Historical Organization
NACA
NACA
Details
Organization Timeline
Dorothy Vaughan is born
📅 20 September 1910Vaughan became a mathematician, programmer and the first Black supervisor at the segregated West Area Computing Unit at Langley.
Vaughan leads Black women human computers
📅 20 September 1910She assigned and reviewed demanding aeronautical calculations while advocating for staff members' opportunities.
Vaughan masters FORTRAN during electronic transition
📅 20 September 1910Anticipating automation, she learned programming and helped colleagues shift from hand calculation to digital computing.
Segregation shaped NASA's mathematical workforce
📅 20 September 1910Vaughan's achievements occurred within racially separated facilities and job classifications that obscured Black women's contributions.
Katherine Johnson is born
📅 26 August 1918Johnson became a research mathematician whose trajectory calculations supported early United States human spaceflight.
Johnson calculates orbital paths
📅 26 August 1918Her work helped determine launch windows, return routes and rendezvous procedures for Mercury and Apollo missions.
John Glenn asks Johnson to verify electronic calculations
📅 26 August 1918Her hand check of the orbital numbers shows how human mathematical judgment remained essential during early computerization.
Johnson crosses racial and gender barriers at NASA
📅 26 August 1918Her career developed within segregated Virginia workplaces where Black women often lacked title, credit and promotion equal to their responsibilities.
Mary Jackson is born
📅 9 April 1921Jackson moved from the West Area Computing Unit into engineering and became NASA's first Black female engineer.
Jackson studies supersonic airflow
📅 9 April 1921Her research analyzed boundary layers, pressure and aircraft behaviour in high-speed wind tunnels.
Segregation obstructs Jackson's engineering courses
📅 9 April 1921She needed special permission to attend classes held at an all-white school, exposing how law restricted scientific careers.
Jackson later advocates for women at NASA
📅 9 April 1921She left engineering management for equal-opportunity work aimed at improving hiring and promotion routes.