Dorothy Vaughan
Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (1910–2008) was an African American mathematician who worked at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor agency to NASA. Prior to arriving at NACA's Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1943, Vaughan worked as a mathamatics teacher at R.R. Moton High School in Farmville, Virginia.[1]
In 1949, Vaughan became the head of the West Area Computers, a work group composed entirely of African-American female mathematicians.[2] Mathematician Katherine Johnson was assigned to Vaughan's group before being transferred to Langley's Flight Research Division.
Vaughan continued at Langley after NACA became NASA, specializing for the rest of her career in electronic computing and FORTRAN programming. She worked in the Langley Research Center's Analysis and Computation Division, and also participated in Scout Project (Solid Controlled Orbital Utility Test system) tests at Wallops Flight Facility.[3]
She retired from NASA in 1971, and died November 10, 2008.
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