Who Did What Now – Episode 181

Katherine Johnson – NASA’s Human Computer

Host: Katie Charlwood
Date: February 17, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Katie Charlwood celebrates Katherine Johnson, the legendary African American mathematician whose calculations were vital to NASA's successes in the Space Race. The episode, released during Black History Month, spotlights Johnson's life, career, and enduring legacy, with Katie’s signature wit, cultural sidebars, and passion for overlooked women in history.

Key Topics and Discussion Points

1. Why Focus on Black History Month and Katherine Johnson?

• Katie addresses recent complaints about her focus on Black history during Black History Month, expressing disbelief at critics who object to historians discussing the past.
• She firmly commits to highlighting trailblazing Black women, like Katherine Johnson.
• Notable quote:

  "How smooth does your brain have to be for you to be upset that a historian is talking about the past?"
  – Katie Charlwood (02:26)

2. Early Life and Education

• Born: August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, WV.
• Family: Youngest of four; mother was a teacher, father a handyman/farmer/lumberjack who owned his land (not a sharecropper).
• Katie digresses with a personal sidebar about her own grandfather’s mathematical prowess, tying it to blue-collar intelligence and emphasizing that manual labor does not equal lack of acuity.
• Katherine’s talent for numbers was evident from a young age—“counting everything she came across”.
• Due to segregation, schooling for African Americans ended at the eighth grade in Greenbrier County, so the family arranged for the children to study at the West Virginia State Institute (an all-Black college).
• Achievements:
  • Graduated high school at 14.
  • Took every math class available in college—even analytic geometry in space classes added just for her.
  • Graduated summa cum laude at 18, with degrees in mathematics and French.
• Quote:

  "She was tip top in all her subjects, but really, really excelled in maths."
  – Katie Charlwood (06:00)

3. Early Career and Family

• Started as a teacher—a common, encouraged path for educated Black women in the South.
• Married James Goble; law in Virginia (and US) prohibited married women from teaching, so she left for graduate school.
• Became the first African American woman at West Virginia University (briefly, as she left upon becoming pregnant).
• During WWII, the expansion of opportunities allowed her to shift towards mathematics as a career.
• Prompted to apply to NACA (precursor to NASA) by a family connection.
• Moved to Newport News, Virginia, in the early 1950s for the job opportunity, as teaching salaries were "not exactly breaking the bank" for African Americans.

4. Rose through the Ranks at NACA/NASA

• Explained NACA’s foundational role and eventual evolution into NASA after the shock of Sputnik (1957).
• Katherine started in the West Area Computing section under Dorothy Vaughan.
• Early work focused on real-plane flight testing, crash investigation, and air safety—a vital, sometimes overlooked area.
• Her mathematical insight led to direct changes in air traffic regulations after she identified how a previous flight's air disturbance caused a plane crash.
• Notable quote:

  "It's not just the maths, right? It's the practical application of the maths... she discovers that the air disturbance is caused by a jet that had passed through... which led to changes in air traffic regulations, which we still use today."
  – Katie Charlwood (35:20)

5. Transition to NASA and Rising above Segregation

• The creation of NASA dissolved the segregated computing sections.

• Change was double-edged: it ended visible segregation at Langley, but left leaders like Dorothy Vaughan without established teams.

• Katherine’s persistence: despite being rebuffed with "girls don't go to meetings" (43:00), she wore down the resistance simply because there was no rule actually barring women.

• Her brilliance was undeniable: once in the meetings, she stunned the male engineers.

  "She just chipped away until, like, she was able to get in because she's like, oh, I'm sorry, is this a new flavor of discrimination? Well, I've tasted that before, sir, and I'm coming in."
  – Katie Charlwood (42:45)

6. Crucial Role in the Space Race

• NASA’s new focus: beat the Soviets by putting a man in space—and bringing him home safely.
• Katherine was lead trajectory analyst for Alan Shepard’s Project Mercury flight, co-authoring the groundbreaking report "Determination of Azimuth Angle at Burnout for Placing a Satellite over a Selected Earth Position."
• The host explores the tense back-and-forth of the space race: Soviet leaps (Sputnik, Laika the dog, Gagarin, Tereshkova) versus U.S. systematic progress.

7. John Glenn and Human vs. Machine

• Introduction of IBM mainframe computers posed threats to human "computers," but early machines were error-prone.

• Astronauts, notably John Glenn, mistrusted automated calculations and specifically requested Katherine manually verify (by hand) the mathematics to guarantee safety for Glenn’s orbital flight.

  "He actually had refused to enter his spacecraft until the numbers matched the ones that Catherine had given."
  – Katie Charlwood (53:20)

8. Later NASA Contributions

• Continued as a key contributor to the Gemini program, spacewalk missions, Apollo moon landings (she did calculations for Apollo 11), Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and the space shuttle.
• Assisted in recalculating safe abort procedures (Apollo 13) and backup pathway charts for lunar and return mission safety.

9. Recognition, Legacy, and Final Years

• Authored/co-authored 26 research reports over a 33-year career.
• Presidential Medal of Freedom (2015, from Barack Obama), Congressional Gold Medal, and numerous other accolades.
• Passed away at 101, survived by three children, six grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.
• Notable quote:

  "Her pioneering legacy will never be forgotten... throughout history we’ve so often swept women under the rug, especially minorities, you know, they’re brushed off, they’re overlooked, and we don’t see the work and the effort that they put in and how they changed the world. She changed the world."
  – Katie Charlwood (67:10)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On being a historian:

  "What part of a historian discussing history like, doesn't make sense to you?" (02:30)

• On sexism and racism:

  "The law wasn't just racist, it was sexist as well. Racism and misogyny—best friends." (15:40)

• On Katherine's persistence:

  "There’s no actual rule that stopped women going to meetings... eventually she wears them down." (43:00)

• On John Glenn:

  "Trust the girl. So he actually had refused to enter his spacecraft until the numbers matched the ones that Catherine had given." (53:20)

• On overlooked legacies:

  "Women like Katherine Johnson… they propped up the Western world... They just didn't have equal rights. Even now, rights are not equal because if you don't have bodily autonomy, then you don't have equal rights, you know what I mean?" (67:30)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:26] Why discuss Black History and Katherine Johnson.
• [04:00] Katherine Johnson's early family and educational background.
• [14:40] Segregation and educational barriers in early 20th-century West Virginia.
• [19:20] Teaching career, graduate school, family events.
• [24:15] Introduction to NACA, mathematics, and women "computers".
• [34:50] Air safety investigations and policy impact.
• [42:07] Transition to NASA, end of segregation, Katherine’s inclusion in key meetings.
• [47:00] The Space Race and Katherine’s contributions to Project Mercury.
• [53:20] John Glenn’s insistence on Katherine’s calculations.
• [61:00] Katherine’s later NASA work (Apollo, Skylab, Space Shuttle).
• [65:40] Legacy, awards, and impact on STEM and history.

Tone and Style

• Conversational and irreverent: Katie mixes research, context, banter, and personal anecdotes.
• Direct, passionate, and sometimes sweary: “Fuck this for a game of soldiers”; “I don’t give a fuck.”
• Deeply empathetic and celebratory: Especially when discussing discrimination and underrecognized accomplishment.

Conclusion and Recommendations

• Hidden Figures is recommended for viewing (while noted as "a wee bit white savory but performances are stellar").
• Encourages further reading and listening: Recommends Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark and listening to Samantha Mumba as a joyful pop culture treat.
• Final reflection: The episode's emotional close underlines the critical importance of recognizing the full humanity and multidimensional brilliance of women like Katherine Johnson, particularly during Black History Month.

For listeners seeking inspiration, rigor, and a reminder of how hidden figures have shaped the world, this episode is a must.