‘HIDDEN FIGURES’ HONORED
Congress recognizes women for their contributions at NASA
Christine Darden, a retired engineer at NASA Langley Research Center, has been recently honored so much for her groundbreaking 40-year career in aerospace that it has become hard for her to find something new to say in response.
She attended a reception Monday in Washington that recognized the recent decision by the Senate and the House of Representatives to honor her with a Congressional Gold Medal.
On Wednesday, she acknowledged: “It’s certainly an honor to know that the work you’ve done is so well thought of that the country gives you a medal in thanks.”
Darden, 77, will receive her medal once it is designed and minted, probably next summer.
Another is being crafted for 101-yearold Katherine Johnson. Two will be presented posthumously to Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan, who joined Johnson at the center of Margot Lee Shetterly’s book “Hidden Figures” and the Oscar-nominated film adaptation.
This time — at the insistence of U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas — there will be a fifth medal. Johnson, a vocal promoter of STEM education, fought for a collective recognition that goes to “all women who served as computers, mathematicians and engineers” in the early decades of the U.S. aviation and aeronautics administrations.
Katherine Johnson is unable to travel, and her two daughters missed Monday’s reception due to a prior engagement, but Joylette Hylick said her mother was thrilled to hear about the honor being shared with women not spotlighted in Shetterly’s bestseller.
“She was happy that everybody was getting recognized, including a lot of people who previously hadn’t been,” Hylick said. “She had a special gift, but as far as work ethic and the quality of work, each of the ladies was at her best all the time. Mom always said they wanted to do good for themselves, but also to do right by the whole community. They were a team at all times.”
Retired engineer Gloria Champine, 80, is proud to be included in that number.
She had to miss Monday’s reception with Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine when her transportation fell through at the last moment. But she vows she will be present when the actual medals are presented.
“I will have a Plan B and a Plan C available,” Champine said. “I don’t want to miss that one.”
The reception was attended by Senators from Virginia and several other elected officials. Shetterly was also on hand and thrilled to see the continued recognition her book has brought to a group of women whose contributions to the space program were barely known for decades.
Several of the women represented by the fifth medal attended, as well as relatives of those who are deceased.
In the days before computers, and even after that technology began to find their way into the space program, these women mathematicians — known as “human computers” — were called upon to map the trajectories of the astronauts and their rockets. In a famous anecdote, John Glenn refused to lift off on his first orbit of Earth until after Johnson had done by-hand computations to confirm the computer’s numbers.
“It’s a remarkable, remarkable story,” Warner said. “When Tim, (Congressman Bobby Scott) and I first screened ‘Hidden Figures’ it was amazing how many folks on the Hill were touched by the story. These women were brilliant at math and brilliant at getting over the barriers of that time.”
The book and the film depict events at NASA Langley Research Center, at a time when it was widely assumed that neither black people nor women had any sort of natural affinity for math or science. Shetterly’s book opened eyes and has inspired a new generation of young women with dreams of being scientists and engineers.
Kaine praised the book and film as a rare look at the fight for the Civil Rights for both African Americans and women. He said that “the story needs to be told so we can celebrate these wonderful people and in so doing, inspire students.”
That concept is not lost on the women being honored. Johnson maintains a post office box that fills up each week with fan letters, notes of admiration from students and entire classes, and requests and invitations to attend events honoring her.
Darden said she sees that effect more and more when she speaks to classes and groups.
“The one thing that impresses me now is how our young people continually say they didn’t know there were women doing work like that,” Darden said. “They couldn’t even think of having careers like that, so it was hard to even convince them to take certain classes. Every time I’ve spoken to kids, they’ve been so inspired.
“It makes me happy to know there will continue to be females who do this work. Now young girls know they too can do this work, and dream about it and prepare for it. Really, that’s what has kept me out there talking to students these days. Because it really helps for them to know.”
In his remarks at the reception at the Capitol, Kaine said he hoped the honor could be something that transcends its roots and becomes symbolic of education itself. He noted that talent and potential are distributed randomly and evenly, but that certain states and countries have better track records than others at developing them fully.
“So this is big and bipartisan and celebratory,” Kaine said, “but let this be more than recognition. Let it be a powerful encouragement to try to be that society that nurtures and grows the talents of all.”
“Now young girls know they too can do this work, and dream about it and prepare for it.”
—Christine Darden, retired NASA engineer