Dorothy Vaughan
Date of Birth: September 20, 1910
Hometown: Kansas City, MO
Education: B.A., Mathematics, Wilberforce University, 1929
Hired by NACA: December 1943
Retired from NASA: 1971
Date of Death: November 10, 2008
She was an American mathematician and human computer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), and NASA, at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In 1949, she became acting supervisor of the West Area Computers, the first African-American woman to receive a promotion and supervise a group of staff at the center. She later was promoted officially to the position of supervisor. During her 28-year career, Vaughan prepared for the introduction of computers in the early 1960s by teaching herself and her staff the programming language of Fortran. She later headed the programming section of the Analysis and Computation Division (ACD) at Langley. Vaughan is one of the women featured in Margot Lee Shetterly’s history Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race (2016). It was adapted as a biographical film of the same name, also released in 2016. In 2019, Vaughan was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal posthumously.
Biography
In an era when NASA is led by an African American man (Administrator Charles Bolden) and a woman (Deputy Administrator Dava Newman), and when recent NASA Center Directors come from a variety of backgrounds, it’s easy to overlook the people who paved the way for the agency’s current robust and diverse workforce and leadership. Those who speak of NASA’s pioneers rarely mention the name Dorothy Vaughan, but as the head of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA’s) segregated West Area Computing Unit from 1949 until 1958, Vaughan was both a respected mathematician and NASA’s first African-American manager.
Dorothy Vaughan came to the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in 1943, during the height of World War II, leaving her position as the math teacher at Robert Russa Moton High School in Farmville, VA to take what she believed would be a temporary war job. Two years after President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802 into law, prohibiting racial, religious and ethnic discrimination in the country’s defense industry, the Laboratory began hiring black women to meet the skyrocketing demand for processing aeronautical research data. Urgency and twenty-four hour shifts prevailed– as did Jim Crow laws which required newly-hired “colored” mathematicians to work separately from their white female counterparts. Dorothy Vaughan was assigned to the segregated “West Area Computing” unit, an all-black group of female mathematicians, who were originally required to use separate dining and bathroom facilities. Over time, both individually and as a group, the West Computers distinguished themselves with contributions to virtually every area of research at Langley.
The group’s original section heads (first Margery Hannah, then Blanche Sponsler) were white. In 1949, Dorothy Vaughan was promoted to lead the group, making her the NACA’s first black supervisor, and one of the NACA’s few female supervisors. The Section Head title gave Dorothy rare Laboratory-wide visibility, and she collaborated with other well-known (white) computers like Vera Huckel and Sara Bullock on projects such as compiling a handbook for algebraic methods for calculating machines. Vaughan was a steadfast advocate for the women of West Computing, and even intervened on behalf of white computers in other groups who deserved promotions or pay raises. Engineers valued her recommendations as to the best “girls” for a particular project, and for challenging assignments they often requested that she personally handle the work.
Dorothy Vaughan helmed West Computing for nearly a decade. In 1958, when the NACA made the transition to NASA, segregated facilities, including the West Computing office, were abolished. Dorothy Vaughan and many of the 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 became an expert FORTRAN programmer, and she also contributed to the Scout Launch Vehicle Program.
Dorothy Vaughan retired from NASA in 1971. She sought, but never received, another management position at Langley. Her legacy lives on in the successful careers of notable West Computing alumni, including Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, Eunice Smith and Kathryn Peddrew, and the achievements of second-generation mathematicians and engineers such as Dr. Christine Darden.
Her Legacy and Honors
Vaughan was the first respected Black female manager at NASA, thus creating a long-lasting legacy for diversity in mathematics and science for West Area Computers. As one of the first female coders in the field who knew how to code FORTRAN, she was able to instruct other Black women on the coding language and paved a wave of female programmers to integrate their work into NASA’s systems.
In 2005, a scholarship fund with the Salem Community Foundation was created under Dorothy Vaughan’s name to further music training by the Salem Music Study Club.
Vaughan is one of the women featured in Margot Lee Shetterly’s 2016 non-fiction book Hidden Figures, and the feature film of the same name. She was portrayed by the Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer.
The Dorothy J. Vaughan Academy of Technology opened in Charlotte, NC, in August 2017. This school is inspired by Vaughan’s “leadership, innovation, creativity, curiosity, and love of learning.” The school is a member of the Magnet Schools of America Association.
In 2019, Vaughan was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Also in 2019, the Vaughan crater on the far side of the Moon was named in her honor.
On 6 November 2020, a satellite named after her (ÑuSat 12 or “Dorothy”, COSPAR 2020-079D of the ÑuSat series) was launched into space.
Vaughan’s personal Bible and NASA retirement identification card are displayed in the Museum of the Bible’s exhibition Scripture and Science: Our Universe, Ourselves, Our Place. The African Methodist Episcopal Church also gave her a service award.
North Central University has a scholarship in honor of Dorothy Vaughan for BIPOC and/or female students.
Awards
1925: Beechurst High School – Class Valedictorian
1925: West Virginia Conference of the A.M.E. Sunday School Convention – Full Tuition Scholarship
1929: Wilberforce University – Mathematician Graduate Cum Laude
1949–1958: Head of National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics’ Segregated West Computing Unit (NACA)
October 16, 2019: a lunar crater is named after her.[ This name was chosen by planetary scientist Ryan N. Watkins and her student, and submitted on what would have been Dorothy Vaughan’s 109th birthday.
November 8, 2019: Congressional Gold Medal
On November 6, 2020, a satellite named after her was launched into space