EXPERT BIO
BRIAN ODOM
Brian is the acting chief historian at NASA and is responsible for conserving the agency's history. He is the co-editor of NASA and the Long Civil Rights Movement (University Press of Florida, 2019).
Behind some of the greatest achievements in space exploration by NASA from the late 1950s onwards was a group of mathematicians, the 'hidden figures', who made it all possible. Referred to as computers for their ability to calculate complicated mathematical equations, these women defied the social and political constraints of their gender to make vital contributions in getting man to space. One of those women made an immense impression on the history of NASA and space exploration, though her legacy had, until the release of an Oscar-nominated blockbuster, remained largely unknown. Her name was Katherine Johnson, and without her humanity may have never made it to the Moon.
Born in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, in August 1918, Creole Katherine Coleman was the youngest of the four children of Joshua and Joylette Coleman, a farmer and a teacher respectively. Katherine was a bright child and, encouraged by her mother,
