(Photo By Flickr User NASA HQ PHOTO)
“NASA, Houston, World Wide, we have some excellent news!”
On September 22, 2017, NASA honored Katherine Johnson by dedicating a new research building in her name on their campus.
Johnson inspired the movie Hidden Figures. The facility is officially named the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility and it will house the research and development that will support NASA’s future exploration missions.
Built on the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, the building is 37,000 sq-ft and is worth $23 million.
According to a press release, NASA says, “the facility will enhance NASA’s efforts in modeling and simulation, big data, analysis.”
Johnson was called a human-computer back in the 60’s for her amazing knowledge in numbers and the ability to calculate. In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Obama.
On being honored by NASA Johnson said,
“I think they’re crazy. I was excited at something new, always liked something new, but give credit to everybody who helped. I didn’t do anything alone but try to go to the root of the question and succeed there.”
Even so, without prominent figures like Johnson author of the book Hidden Figures Margot Lee Shetterly says,
“We would not be standing on the brink of this future.”
