Dorothy Vaughan NASA Mathematician and She-ro for all humankind

Dorothy Vaughan is a name many people may not have known before 2016 when the film Hidden Figures hit theaters. The lovely Octavia Spencer brilliantly played the role of Dorothy.

Vaughan played a large role in paving the way for diverse leadership within NASA and training and helping NASA employees understand the new IBM computers.

Vaughan began her career as a mathematics teacher at Robert Russa Moton High School.

In 1943, at the height of World War II, Vaughan began working as a mathematician and programmer at Langley Research Center, in which she specialized in calculations for flight paths. She later contributed to the Scout Project and computer programming.

When Vaughan first began working with the government, NASA was not NASA yet. It was an aeronautics research center named The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics or NACA. Initially, Vaughan thought her position would be a temporary war position. Vaughan, like other women working at NACA, was hired as "computers." People who were computers worked on complex mathematical equations by hand with the tools of the time. Computers played significant roles in aircraft testing, supersonic flight research, and the space program.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 to desegregate the defense industry, and Executive Order 9346 to end racial segregation and discrimination in hiring and promotion among federal agencies and defense contractors. The executive order gave Black women like Vaughan an opportunity to use their skills and work in the U.S. government. Still, all Black men and women working at NACA had to use segregated bathrooms, work areas, and cafeterias because of Jim Crow laws.

Although there were laws in place to stop discrimination, discriminatory practices were still in effect. Black women hoping to work as computers had more hurdles to jump than white women. If an applicant for NACA were Black, they would also have to complete a chemistry course at the nearby Hampton Institute; a course white applicants did not have to take. This course was required even though both white and Black computers did the exact same work.

Vaughan worked in the West Area Computers unit, an all-Black female unit of computers. No matter if they were Black or white, all computers did the same work; they read, analyzed, and plotted data.

Although the female computers were as skilled as their male counterparts, they were officially hired as "sub professionals" while males held "professional" status. The difference in status of "professional" vs. "sub-professional" allowed newly-hired males to be paid $2,600 annually while newly-hired females began at $1,440 annually due to their title.

In 1949 Vaughan was appointed as acting head of the West Area Computing Unit, but it took NACA two full years to give Vaughan the title of section head.

The outstanding issue was resolved by a memo that circulated in January 1951. "Effective this date, Dorothy J. Vaughan, who has been acting head of the West Area Computers unit, is hereby appointed head of that unit." During that time, Vaughan became NACA's first black supervisor and one of NACA's few female supervisors.

Section Head title gave Vaughan rare Laboratory-wide visibility. She collaborated with other well-known computers like Vera Huckel and Sara Bullock on projects such as compiling a handbook for algebraic methods calculating machines.

Vaughan taught herself and the women of the West Area Computing Unit computer programming and became an expert programmer in FORTRAN.

Once NACA became NASA in 1958, segregated facilities were abolished. With the name change came a new position. Vaughan and many former West Computers joined the new Analysis and Computation Division (ACD), a racially and gender-integrated group on the frontier of electronic computing.

Dorothy Vaughan retired from NASA in 1971. According to NASA, she sought, but never received, another management position at Langley. Sadly, Vaughan passed away in 2008 at 98, but her legacy expands well into today. She was not only a pioneer in racial and gender equality in the workplace, but her work contributions had long-lasting effects.

Not only was Vaughan a successful computer programmer and teacher, but she also contributed to NASA's SCOUT Launch Vehicle program. The program began in 1959 and is currently one of the nation's most successful and reliable launch vehicles.

In 2019, Vaughan was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously. That same year, the Vaughan crater on the far side of the Moon was named in her honor.

On 6 November 2020, a satellite named after her was launched into space.

Vaughan's contributions were no doubt one giant leap for all humankind.