FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Barack Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson during an event in the East Room of the White House in Washington November 24, 2015. Johnson is a pioneer in American space history. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
February 24, 2020
(Reuters) – Katherine Johnson, a black mathematician whose little-known flight path calculations for NASA’s early space missions were brought to light in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” died on Monday at 101.
“Our NASA family is sad to learn the news that Katherine Johnson passed away this morning at 101 years old,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine posted to Twitter. “She was an American hero and her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten.”
(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul)
