Bill Text: WV SR60 | 2020 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Memorializing life of Katherine Johnson, WV native, NASA mathematician, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2020-03-02 - Completed legislative action [SR60 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2020-SR60-Introduced.html
SENATE RESOLUTION 60
(By Senators Boley, Rucker, Cline, Carmichael (Mr. President), Azinger, Baldwin, Beach, Blair, Clements, Facemire, Hamilton, Hardesty, Ihlenfeld, Jeffries, Lindsay, Mann, Maroney, Maynard, Palumbo, Pitsenbarger, Plymale, Prezioso, Roberts, Romano, Smith, Stollings, Swope, Sypolt, Takubo, Tarr, Trump, Unger, Weld, and Woelfel)
[Introduced February 29, 2020]
Memorializing the life of Katherine Johnson, West Virginia native, NASA mathematician, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient.
Whereas, Katherine Johnson was born August 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, West Virginia, the daughter of Joshua and Joylette Coleman; and
Whereas, By the age of 13, Katherine Johnson was attending the high school on the campus of the historically African-American West Virginia State College. At 18, she enrolled in the college itself, where she made quick work of the school’s math curriculum and found a mentor in math, professor W. W. Schieffelin Claytor, the third African-American to earn a PhD in Mathematics. She graduated summa cum laude in 1937, with degrees in Mathematics and French, at age 18; and
Whereas, Katherine Johnson was the first African-American woman to attend graduate school at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia; and
Whereas, In 1953, Katherine Johnson was hired by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, as a mathematician, and continued to work for the organization which became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958; and
Whereas, Katherine Johnson, from 1958 until her retirement in 1986, worked as an aerospace technologist, moving during her career to the Spacecraft Controls Branch; and
Whereas, During her extraordinary career at NASA, Katherine Johnson accomplished many amazing feats, such as: Calculating the trajectory for the May 5, 1961, space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space, and the launch window for his 1961 Mercury mission; she plotted back-up navigational charts for astronauts in case of electronic failures; when NASA used electronic computers for the first time to calculate John Glenn’s orbit around Earth, officials called on Katherine Johnson to verify the computer’s numbers (John Glenn had asked for her specifically and had refused to fly unless Katherine Johnson verified the calculations); and Katherine Johnson also helped to calculate the trajectory for the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon; and
Whereas, In 1970, Katherine Johnson worked on the Apollo 13 moon mission. When the mission was aborted, her work on back-up procedures and charts helped set a safe path for the crew’s return to Earth, creating a one-star observation system that would allow astronauts to determine their location with accuracy; and
Whereas, Katherine Johnson’s life served as the basis for a nonfiction book, titled, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, which inspired the award-winning motion picture; and
Whereas, In 2015, cited as a pioneering example of African-American women in STEM, President Barack Obama presented Katherine Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award of the United States; and
Whereas, Sadly, Katherine Johnson passed away on February 24, 2020, at the age of 101, leaving behind a grateful state and nation; and
Whereas, It is fitting that the West Virginia Senate honor the life of Katherine Johnson for her career as a pioneer in space science and computing, and for her dedicated public service; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate:
That the Senate hereby memorializes the life of Katherine Johnson, West Virginia native, NASA mathematician, and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Senate extends its deepest sympathies to the family of Katherine Johnson on her passing; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Clerk is hereby directed to forward a copy of this resolution to the family of Katherine Johnson.
