Born: 1910 (Kansas City, Missouri)
Biography:
Dorothy Jean Johnson Vaughan was born on September 20, 1910, in Kansas City, Missouri. She was the daughter of Annie and Leonard Johnson. At the age of seven, her family moved to Morgantown, West Virginia, where she graduated from Beechurst High School in 1925 as the valedictorian of her class.
Vaughan’s academic talent and dedication to her studies earned her a full-tuition scholarship from the West Virginia Conference of the A.M.E. Sunday School Convention. She went on to attend Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where she joined the Zeta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and obtained a B.A. in mathematics in 1929.
In 1932, Vaughan married Howard Vaughan, and the couple moved to Newport News, Virginia. They had six children together. Vaughan balanced her family responsibilities with her career, demonstrating her dedication to both. Her devotion to family and church played a significant role in her decision to work for NASA in Hampton, Virginia, later in her life.
Due to financial pressures during the Great Depression, Vaughan initially worked as a mathematics teacher at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia. Despite being encouraged by her professors to pursue graduate study at Howard University, she chose to assist her family during this difficult time.
In 1935, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) established a section of women mathematicians who performed complex calculations. Vaughan joined this group as a human computer, contributing her skills in mathematics to assist in various projects.
Although racially segregated under Jim Crow laws, in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802, desegregating the defense industry, and Executive Order 9346, which aimed to end racial segregation and discrimination in hiring and promotion. These executive orders would have a significant impact on Vaughan’s career and trajectory.
In 1949, Vaughan became the acting supervisor of the West Area Computers at NACA, making her the first African-American woman to receive a promotion and supervise a group of staff at the center. Her exemplary work ethic and dedication led to her official promotion to the position of supervisor shortly after.
During her 28-year career at NACA and later NASA, Vaughan recognized the importance of preparing for the introduction of computers in the early 1960s. She took it upon herself to teach both herself and her staff the programming language of Fortran, ensuring their proficiency in this emerging technology. Her efforts paid off when she was appointed as the head of the programming section of the Analysis and Computation Division at Langley Research Center.
Vaughan’s contributions to the space race and her exceptional skills as a mathematician left a lasting impact. Her story gained wider recognition when she was featured in the book Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was published in 2016. The book was later adapted into a biographical film of the same name in the same year, further highlighting Vaughan’s significant role in history.
In recognition of her remarkable achievements, Vaughan was posthumously honored with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019, cementing her place as a trailblazer in the field of mathematics and women’s history.
Awards:
– Congressional Gold Medal (2019)