Katherine Johnson

Growing up in rural West Virginia, Katherine Johnson was always good at math. “I counted everything: the steps, the dishes, the stars in the sky,” she said. She took college math classes when she was only thirteen. No one guessed she would use numbers to send astronauts into space!

Born in 1918, her intense curiosity and brilliance with numbers led to her early graduation from high school at age fourteen. In 1937, she graduated from West Virginia State College with highest honors. She got a job teaching math, French, and music at an all-black public school. At that time, schools in the South were segregated. Black and white students were not allowed in the same schools.