Creola Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918. She was an American mathematician. Her calculations of orbital mechanics were very crucial to the success of the first U.S. crewed spaceflights. Katherine Johnson was born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. She was born to Joylette Roberta (Lowe) and Joshua McKinley Coleman. Her mother was a teacher, while her father was a farmer and handyman.
She had a long career of around 35 years in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She earned great fame and a reputation for heading complex manual calculations. She helped in pioneering the use of computers to perform the tasks related to spaceships. She was popularly referred to as the " first African-American woman to work as a NASA scientist".
Johnson worked in the field of calculating trajectories, launch windows, and emergency return paths. She worked for Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and John Glenn, the first American in orbit. Her calculations were also crucial to the beginning of the Space Shuttle program. In 2015, the erstwhile U.S. President Barack Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2016, she got the Silver Snoopy Award by NASA astronaut Leland D. Melvin and a NASA Group Achievement Award. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019. Johnson was also named the West Virginia State College Outstanding Alumnus of the Year in 1999. On February 24 2020, she left for heavenly abode. Below are some of the famous Katherine Johnson Quotes.
Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men.
Women are stereotypically thought to be lesser than men. However, that's not the case. If given the right direction and resources, they can perform wonders. They just need some mentorship that would help them achieve what they want to. Girls have an even better imagination than men.
Like what you do, and then you will do your best.
Simply doing things for the sake of doing is not at all appreciable. Rather than doing things with full zeal and enthusiasm is what one should ideally do. If you fall in love with whatever you do, you will do the best in that field.
We will always have STEM with us. Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away, but there will always be science, engineering, and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics.
Katherine Johnson is reinforcing the importance of the field of STEM here. She's perhaps telling us that these fields of study are so quintessential to human existence that there's little scope of them getting dropped from the public eye. There are Maths and Science everywhere and in everything that occurs.
I don't have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I'm as good as anybody, but no better.
In the field of competitive sciences or otherwise, there's a lot of competition. This is usually in terms of one person trying to perform better than the other. However, Johnson seems to be saying that she did not have any such feeling of inferiority. Rather she considered herself only good as others and never made a big deal about it.
Everything was so new - the whole idea of going into space was new and daring. There were no textbooks, so we had to write them.
Katherine Johnson was so crucial as a figure in doing calculations about going into space. Thus, here she is trying to tell us that initially, the whole idea of going into space was so new and daring. The mathematicians and scientists had to write everything new because that's how inventions happen.
Continue reading some of the best Katherine Johnson Quotes....
Take all the courses in your curriculum. Do the research. Ask questions. Find someone doing what you are interested in! Be curious!
Taking your syllabus and curriculum seriously is important. That's because it gives you a boost in your personal and professional life. You should take all the courses, attend lectures and ask questions. All this is important because doing what you are interested in makes you all the more passionate about your subject.
I like to learn. That's an art and a science.
Learning is so beautiful. It means learning to do new things. It's a process by which you familiarise yourself with everything that was unexplored by your brain before. Thus, love for learning should always be there in everyone. This love should be like art that one creates. It's also like science that comes with hidden mysteries.
In math, you're either right or you're wrong.
Mathematics has no mid-air hanging object. Either your answer is correct or completely wrong. In Maths, there can't be middle ways to establish facts. There is either one absolute truth or absolutely nothing like the truth. So mathematics is absolute in that sense.
I'm always interested in learning something new.
Katherine Johnson is again sharing her love for learning in this quote. She's saying that she likes to learn something new. Perhaps that's how each one of us should behave. Loving little things in life is so crucial, especially when those things give you important life lessons!
Go see 'Hidden Figures,' and take a young person! It will give a more positive outlook on what is possible if you work hard, do your best, and are prepared.
Johnson is recommending a movie to watch in this quote. This movie was crucial in the way it portrayed features of history and science. Thus, she's telling us to get motivated by watching this movie and learn to value the importance of hard work because that's what it portrays.
Some more Katherine Johnson Quotes....
I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to the church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed... anything that could be counted, I did.
Counting forms the basis of doing maths. You count every small thing while doing maths, right? Well, that's what Katherine did as a child too. She was so fond of counting that she counted everything mundane and useless too. Perhaps counting is what makes one hone their skill in being a mathematician!
I was excited at something new, always liked something new, but give credit to everybody who helped. I didn't do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question and succeeded there.
Being modest and thankful in the journey of success and life is important. Thus, even if you succeed, you cannot deny the fact that there were people who helped you in doing great work! Thus, Katherine says that she always went to the root of the problem and saw who was responsible for those things!
I found what I was looking for at Langley. This was what a research mathematician did. I went to work every day for 33 years happy. Never did I get up and say I don't want to go to work.
The everlasting and evergreen love for your work makes you respect it even more. For around 33 years of her life, Johnson would get up and happily go to work. She never complained about anything. Thus, that's the kind of love that one should show for their work. The kind of determination Katherine had is what we all need too!
We needed to be assertive as women in those days - assertive and aggressive - and the degree to which we had to be that way depended on where you were. I had to be.
Johnson is talking about her times here when there were hardly any women in the field of mathematics. They were mostly seen as not-so-capable of doing good work. Thus, sometimes women had to be bold and assertive to make their point. This was required in a male-dominated sphere of mathematics.
Men don't pay attention to small things.
Well, women have innate power in doing great things by noticing intricate details. That doesn't only encompass the realm of professional work but also personal life. So you may see that your mother may notice everything about you as compared to your father. Well, it's not to say that men don't notice, but somehow, women are blessed with this ability to do everything with detail!
I was just excited to have challenging work to do and smart people to work with.
Challenges help us keep motivated. If there are no challenges at all, what will keep us passionate? Nothing. That's why if you have some daily targets or challenges in your life, you are good to go! Similarly, having a peer group that's intelligent and smart makes you all the way brighter!
Few more Katherine Johnson Quotes...
Let me do it. You tell me when you want it and where you want it to land, and I'll do it backwards and tell you when to take off.
This quote gives the gist of the kind of work mathematicians in the field of space and aircraft had to do. Here, Johnson is saying that her work was to do calculations about landing etc., of a spaceship. For this, the scientists had to tell her when and where they wished to land the spaceship.
Our teachers made such a difference - all my teachers and professors were very supportive and nurturing.
Having good teachers and mentors is a boon. It just makes one feel so illuminated. You always feel positive when your teachers or professors support you in your work. Thus, a student's success has a greater credit for the teachers and mentors who help in making it possible.
I liked working with smart people.
Working with like-minded people or the ones you adore and appreciate for their work is a heavenly experience. Being in a good company always helps you do wonderful things. Thus, it's always good that we stay with people who give us positive and smart vibes to work with!
I had a very, very interesting childhood, but, oh my, education was the primary focus in our family.
Childhood can be both happy as well as tiring dependent on how your parents raise you. Johnson had an interesting childhood, yet it was education that formed the primary concern of her parents. However, it's beautiful to notice that education helped Johnson achieve the scale of success she did.
