Katherine Johnson: Pioneering NASA mathematician

凯瑟琳·约翰逊：美国国家航空航天局先驱数学家

Katherine Johnson was a NASA mathematician who played a key role in several NASA missions during the Space Race, including calculating the trajectory needed to get the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and back.

凯瑟琳·约翰逊是美国国家航空航天局的数学家，在太空竞赛期间，她在美国国家航空航天局的几次任务中发挥了关键作用，包括计算阿波罗11号登月和返回任务所需的轨迹。

As a black woman working for NASA in the 1950s and '60s, Johnson overcame social boundaries and racial discrimination.

作为一名在20世纪50年代和60年代为美国国家航空航天局工作的黑人女性，约翰逊克服了社会界限和种族歧视。

Her impressive career was the subject of the 2016 book and movie "Hidden Figures."

她令人印象深刻的职业生涯是2016年书籍和电影《隐藏的人物》的主题。

Related: How 'Hidden Figures' came together: Interview with author Margot Shetterly

相关：如何“隐藏的数字”走到一起：采访作者玛戈特谢特利

Johnson was born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, the youngest of four children. From a very young age, she had a fascination with numbers, which would lead her to defy all expectations throughout her life. "I counted everything. I counted the steps to the road, the steps up to church, the number of dishes and silverware I washed … anything that could be counted, I did," said Johnson according to a NASA history article (opens in new tab). said during an interview with NASA in 2015.

约翰逊1918年出生在西弗吉尼亚州的白硫泉，是四个孩子中最小的一个。从很小的时候起，她就对数字着迷，这让她在一生中打破了所有的期望。根据美国国家航空航天局的一篇历史文章(在新的选项卡中打开)，约翰逊说：我清点了一切。我清点了上路的步数，上教堂的步数，我洗了…的盘子和银器的数量，任何可以计算的东西，我都清点了。015年接受美国国家航空航天局采访时说。

Johnson's hometown did not offer public schooling for black children past eighth grade, so her family moved 120 miles (193 kilometers) away so that she could attend high school. She graduated high school at just 14 and college at 18, securing degrees in both mathematics and French from the historically black West Virginia State College.

约翰逊的家乡没有为八年级以上的黑人儿童提供公立学校，所以她的家人搬到了120英里(193公里)外，这样她就可以上高中了。她14岁高中毕业，18岁大学毕业，从历史上黑人的西弗吉尼亚州立大学获得了数学和法语两个学位。

While in school, her potential was clear to her teachers. One of her professors, William Schieffelin Claytor, encouraged Johnson to become a research mathematician and created a geometry class just for her. After teaching for a few years, Johnson was accepted to West Virginia University's graduate math program, and in 1939, she became the first black woman to attend the school.

在学校时，她的潜力对她的老师来说是显而易见的。她的一位教授威廉·希弗林·克莱托鼓励约翰逊成为一名研究数学家，并专门为她开设了一门几何课程。在教书几年后，约翰逊被西弗吉尼亚大学的数学研究生课程录取，1939年，她成为该校第一位黑人女性。

A year into her coursework, she left to raise her three daughters. Then, in 1952, a relative told her about an exciting new opportunity: The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor to NASA, was hiring black women to solve math problems. Johnson applied right away. She was soon hired as a "computer" at the Langley Research Center (opens in new tab), tasked with performing and checking calculations for flight tests.

完成课程一年后，她离开去抚养她的三个女儿。然后，在1952年，一位亲戚告诉她一个令人兴奋的新机会：美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的前身国家航空咨询委员会(NACA)正在聘请黑人女性来解决数学问题。约翰逊立即提出了申请。她很快被兰利研究中心聘为“计算机”(在新的选项卡中打开)，任务是执行和检查飞行测试的计算。

"Before these big IBM mainframe computers came in [the NACA] really relied on human beings to do the math for calculating trajectories. Katherine really does play a role in that human computing lab," NASA historian Brian Odom told our sister publication All About History.

美国国家航空航天局历史学家布莱恩·奥多姆告诉我们的姊妹出版物《关于历史的一切》，在这些大型IBM大型计算机问世之前，[国家航空咨询委员会]真的依靠人类来计算轨迹。凯瑟琳确实在那个人类计算实验室发挥了作用。

In addition to excelling at her work, Johnson was exceptionally curious and assertive, always questioning her colleagues and asking to be included in important meetings. When she started at NACA, Johnson and her black colleagues were required to work, eat and use restrooms separately from the white employees. But Johnson ignored the racial and gender barriers of the time and became the first woman in the Flight Research Division to be credited as an author on a research report.

除了出色的工作，约翰逊还异常好奇和自信，总是向同事提问，并要求参加重要的会议。当她开始在国家航空咨询委员会工作时，约翰逊和她的黑人同事被要求与白人员工分开工作、吃饭和使用洗手间。但约翰逊无视当时的种族和性别障碍，成为飞行研究部门中第一位在研究报告中被认为是作者的女性。

"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 said in 1999 (opens in new tab) of her time working for the NACA and later NASA.

“在那个年代，作为女性，我们需要自信——自信和好斗——我们必须做到这一点的程度取决于你在哪里。我必须做到，”约翰逊在1999年谈到她在国家航空咨询委员会和后来的美国国家航空航天局工作时说。

In 1958, NACA became NASA. Johnson's time working for NASA would prove to be a more positive experience with regards to racial segregation given NASA's diversity policies. "Once NASA comes online in 1958 you see the build up of a lot of centres in the south. Today we'll think of Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Marshall Space Flight Centre in Huntsville, Alabama, and the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, but there were other locations across the south too near New Orleans and South Mississippi. So basically what's happening is NASA is building a huge infrastructure in the time period from 1958 to 1963, at the build up for Apollo, in the Jim Crow segregated south," Odom said.

1958年，国家航空咨询委员会成为美国国家航空航天局。考虑到美国国家航空航天局的多样性政策，约翰逊在美国国家航空航天局工作的时间将被证明是一次关于种族隔离的更积极的经历。奥多姆说：“美国国家航空航天局在1958年上线后，你会看到南方建立了很多中心。今天我们会想到休斯顿的约翰逊航天中心、阿拉巴马州亨茨维尔的马歇尔航天中心和佛罗里达州的肯尼迪航天中心，但南部还有其他地方离新奥尔良和南密西西比州太近。所以基本上正在发生的是，美国国家航空航天局在1958年至1963年期间正在为阿波罗建造巨大的基础设施，在种族隔离的南方。”

"The federal government, from the very beginning of this process, is committed to equal employment opportunity and that's something that John F Kennedy in March of 1961, with a new executive order, really makes a key part of this programme. So equal employment becomes a huge thing and for the first time in that executive order, we see that term "affirmative action". It's not just that you have to not discriminate, but you also have to have a positive plan for affirmative action, in which you demonstrate that you're taking the steps necessary to bring these jobs to African Americans," Odom added.

奥多姆补充说：“联邦政府从这一进程的一开始就致力于平等就业机会，这是约翰·F·肯尼迪在1961年3月发布的一项新的行政命令，真正使这一计划成为关键部分。因此，平等就业成为一件大事，我们第一次在行政命令中看到‘平权行动’这个词。这不仅是因为你不能歧视，而且你还必须有一个积极的平权行动计划，在这个计划中，你要证明你正在采取必要的步骤，为非裔美国人带来这些工作机会，”奥多姆补充道。

With the Soviet Union launching the Sputnik satellite in 1957, the US was determined not to fall behind and so the Space Race began.

随着苏联在1957年发射人造卫星，美国不甘落后，于是太空竞赛开始了。

Johnson's passion was geometry, which was useful for calculating the trajectories of spacecraft. For NASA's 1961 Mercury mission, she knew that the trajectory would be a parabola, a type of symmetrical curve. So when NASA wanted the capsule to come down at a certain place, she was not deterred.

约翰逊的爱好是几何学，这对计算宇宙飞船的轨迹很有用。对于美国国家航空航天局1961年的水星任务，她知道轨迹将是抛物线，一种对称曲线。所以当美国国家航空航天局希望太空舱在某个地方降落时，她没有被吓住。

"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," Johnson said according to a NASA (opens in new tab). Subsequent orbital missions were more complicated, with more variables involving the position and rotation of the Earth, so Johnson used a celestial training device to perform her calculations.

据美国国家航空航天局(NASA)的一份报告(在新的选项卡中打开)，约翰逊说，你告诉我你什么时候想要它，你想让它降落在哪里，我会倒着做，然后告诉你什么时候起飞。随后的轨道任务更加复杂，涉及地球位置和自转的变量更多，因此约翰逊使用了天体训练设备进行计算。

Johnson was tasked with calculating the trajectory for Alan Shepard's historic flight, during which he became the first American to reach space. She also confirmed the trajectory to send the first American into orbit around the Earth. By this time, NASA had begun using electronic computers to perform these tasks, but the machines could be a little temperamental. Before his Friendship 7 mission, astronaut John Glenn requested that Johnson personally recheck the calculations by hand. "If she says they're good, then I'm ready to go," Glenn said, according to Johnson’s recollection of the event (opens in new tab).

约翰逊的任务是计算艾伦·谢泼德历史性飞行的轨迹，在此期间，他成为第一个进入太空的美国人。她还确认了将第一个美国人送入绕地球轨道的轨道。到那时，美国国家航空航天已经开始使用电子计算机来执行这些任务，但这些机器可能有点喜怒无常。在执行友谊7号任务之前，宇航员约翰·格伦要求约翰逊亲自手工检查计算结果。根据约翰逊对这一事件的回忆(在新的选项卡中打开)，格伦说：“如果她说它们很好，那么我就准备好了。”

The next challenge was to send humans to the moon, and Johnson's calculations helped sync the Apollo 11 lunar lander with the moon-orbiting command and service module to get the astronauts back to Earth. She also proved invaluable on the Apollo 13 mission, providing backup procedures that helped ensure the crew's safe return after their craft malfunctioned. She later helped to develop the space shuttle program and Earth resources satellite, and she co-authored 26 research reports before retiring in 1986.

下一个挑战是将人类送上月球，约翰逊的计算帮助阿波罗11号月球着陆器与绕月轨道指挥和服务舱同步，将宇航员送回地球。她还在阿波罗13号任务中证明了她的宝贵价值，她提供了后备程序，帮助确保机组人员在飞船发生故障后安全返回。她后来帮助开发了航天飞机计划和地球资源卫星，在1986年退休之前，她与人合著了26份研究报告。

Johnson spent the following years speaking to students about her extraordinary career, encouraging them to pursue STEM education. "Some things will drop out of the public eye and will go away," she said at the NASA Trailblazers and Legends STEM Conference in Cape Canaveral, Florida in 2010 (opens in new tab). "There will always be science, engineering and technology. And there will always, always be mathematics. Everything is physics and math."

在接下来的几年里，约翰逊一直在向学生讲述她非凡的职业生涯，鼓励他们继续STEM教育。2010年在佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角举行的美国国家航空航天局开拓者和传奇STEM会议上，她说：“有些事情会从公众的视线中消失。”“总会有科学、工程和技术。也总会有数学。一切都是物理和数学。”

She and her colleagues became famous with the publication of "Hidden Figures" (William Morrow and Co., 2016) by Margot Lee Shetterly and the release of the blockbuster movie of the same name, which starred Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe and Octavia Spencer as Johnson and her colleagues Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan. The release of "Hidden Figures" made Johnson one of the most celebrated black women in space science and a hero for those calling for action against sexism and racism in science and engineering.

她和她的同事因玛戈特·李·谢特利的《隐藏的人物》（威廉·莫罗公司，2016年）的出版和同名大片的上映而出名，由塔拉吉·P·汉森、贾内尔·梦娜和奥塔维亚·斯宾塞饰演约翰逊和她的同事玛丽·杰克逊和多萝西·沃恩。“隐藏人物”的发布使约翰逊成为空间科学领域最著名的黑人女性之一，也是那些呼吁采取行动反对科学和工程领域性别歧视和种族主义的人的英雄。

In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. And in 2016, the NASA Langley facility at which Johnson worked renamed a building in her honor: the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility.

2015年，巴拉克·奥巴马总统授予约翰逊总统自由勋章，这是美国最高的平民荣誉。2016年，约翰逊工作的美国国家航空航天局兰利设施以她的名字重新命名了一座建筑：凯瑟琳·G·约翰逊计算研究设施。

In 2019, Johnson told her own story for young readers in a book called "Reaching for the Moon" (Atheneum Books for Young Readers).

2019年，约翰逊在一本名为《触及月球》（Atheneum Books for Young Readers）的书中为年轻读者讲述了自己的故事。

"Every time engineers would hand me their equations to evaluate, I would do more than what they'd asked. I'd try to think beyond their equations. To ensure that I'd get the answer right, I needed to understand the thinking behind their choices and decisions," she wrote.

她写道：“每次工程师们把他们的方程式交给我评估时，我都会比他们要求的做得更多。我会尝试超越他们的方程式去思考。为了确保我得到正确的答案，我需要理解他们的选择和决定背后的想法。”

"I didn't allow their side-eyes and annoyed looks to intimidate or stop me. I also would persist even if I thought I was being ignored. If I encountered something I didn't understand, I'd just ask. … I just ignored the social customs that told me to stay in my place."

“我不允许他们的侧目和恼怒的眼神吓倒或阻止我。即使我认为自己被忽视了，我也会坚持下去。如果我遇到不明白的事情，我会直接问。……我只是无视告诉我要呆在原地的社会习俗。”

Johnson died on Feb. 24, 2020, at age 101. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced her death and promised that her legacy would be remembered.

约翰逊于2020年2月24日去世，享年101岁。美国国家航空航天局局长吉姆·布里登斯汀宣布了她的死讯，并承诺她的遗产将被铭记。

"At NASA, we will never forget her courage and leadership and the milestones we could not have reached without her," Bridenstine said. "We will continue building on her legacy."

布里登斯汀说：“在美国国家航空航天局，我们永远不会忘记她的勇气和领导能力，以及没有她我们不可能达到的里程碑。”“我们将继续继承她的遗产。”

"She played a huge role in NASA throughout her career and is someone we (NASA) really look back on fondly," Odom said.

奥多姆说：“她在美国国家航空航天局的整个职业生涯中发挥了巨大的作用，是我们（美国国家航空航天局）真正怀念的人。”

You can learn more (opens in new tab) about Katherine Johnson’s work with NASA, or about her life and legacy with the New York Times (opens in new tab). You can also educate your little ones about how remarkable Johnson was with this excellent picture book (opens in new tab).

您可以了解更多(在新选项卡中打开)关于凯瑟琳·约翰逊在NASA的工作，或关于她在《纽约时报》的生活和遗产(在新选项卡中打开)。你还可以教育你的孩子，约翰逊在这本优秀的绘本上是多么了不起(在新的选项卡中打开)。

Johnson, K. (2020). Reaching for the moon: The autobiography of Nasa mathematician Katherine Johnson (opens in new tab). Atheneum Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division.

英国约翰逊（2020年）。登月：美国国家航空航天局数学家凯瑟琳·约翰逊的自传（在新标签中打开）。面向年轻读者的雅典娜图书，西蒙与舒斯特儿童出版部门的一个印记。

Loff, S. (2016, February 25). Mathematician Katherine Johnson at work. NASA. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/mathematician-katherine-johnson-at-work (opens in new tab)

南洛夫（2016年2月25日）。数学家凯瑟琳·约翰逊在工作。美国国家航空航天局。检索于2022年11月11日，来自https：//www.nasa.gov/image-feature/mathematician-katherine-johnson-at-work（在新选项卡中打开）

Loff, S. (2020, February 24). Katherine Johnson Biography. NASA. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography (opens in new tab)

南洛夫（2020年2月24日）。凯瑟琳·约翰逊传记。美国国家航空航天局。检索于2022年11月11日，来自https：//www.nasa.gov/content/katherine-johnson-biography（在新选项卡中打开）

Shetterly, M. L. (2017). Hidden figures: The American Dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race (opens in new tab). William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

谢特利医学博士（2017年）。隐藏的数字：美国梦和帮助赢得太空竞赛的黑人女数学家的不为人知的故事（在新标签中打开）。威廉·莫罗，哈珀柯林斯出版社的一个印记。

Smith, Y. (2015, November 24). Katherine Johnson: The girl who loved to count. NASA. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count (opens in new tab)

纽约州史密斯市（2015年11月24日）。凯瑟琳·约翰逊：喜欢数数的女孩。美国国家航空航天局。检索于2022年11月11日，来自https：//www.nasa.gov/feature/katherine-johnson-the-girl-who-loved-to-count（在新标签中打开）

Wild, F. (2020, February 24). Katherine Johnson: A lifetime of Stem. NASA. Retrieved November 11, 2022, from https://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/a-lifetime-of-stem.html (opens in new tab)

怀尔德，女（2020年2月24日）。凯瑟琳·约翰逊：一生的Stem。美国国家航空航天局。检索于2022年11月11日，来自https：//www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/a-lifetime-of-stem.html（在新选项卡中打开）