Katherine Johnson's mathematics supports Apollo

The large electronic computer demonstrated that many numerical procedures could be executed at unprecedented speed.

Six women translated mathematical problems into switch settings, cable connections and operation sequences, yet were long omitted from accounts.

The machine was commissioned for artillery tables, connecting mathematical innovation with military power.

ENIAC required decomposition of equations, planning of data flow, testing and debugging before stored-program languages existed.

The lunar module reached the Moon after a mission dependent on trajectory design, numerical simulation, navigation and real-time calculation.

Mainframes, onboard guidance, ground teams and hand-prepared backup charts formed one distributed calculating system.

Its mathematics produced a historic achievement while relying on immense state spending, military technology and geopolitical competition.

Raised in Tehran, Mirzakhani became an influential geometer studying curved surfaces and dynamical systems.

Her work connected geometry, topology and dynamics in spaces whose points represent different shapes of Riemann surfaces.

Olympiad training and university study in Iran preceded her doctorate and research appointments in the United States.