Katherine Johnson: She Counted Everything… Then an Astronaut Asked for Her

An astronaut was ready to fly around the Earth.

But he did not trust the new computer.

He wanted one woman to check the numbers.

Would they be right?

This is the story of Katherine Johnson.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Mathematician. A mathematician is a person who is an expert in math.

Her professor said she would be a great mathematician.

Calculate. When you calculate, you use math to find an answer.

The past is calculated.

She calculated the path of the spaceship.

Path. A path is the line that something follows when it moves.

Every spaceship needs an exact path.

Check. When you check something, you look at it carefully to see if it is right.

The past is checked.

She checked every number by hand.

Orbit. An orbit is the round path of something that goes around a planet.

Glenn's ship made three orbits around the Earth.

Now, one pattern: who.

We use who to give more information about a person.

She was a woman. She checked the numbers.

She was the woman who checked the numbers.

Ready? Let's begin.

Katherine Johnson was born in West Virginia in 1918.

As a little girl, she counted everything.

She counted the steps to the road, the steps to the church, and the plates she washed.

She learned very fast at school.

At only ten, she started high school!

But near her home, there was no high school for Black children.

So her family moved to another town.

At college, a professor who saw her talent made new math classes just for her.

Her professor said she would be a great mathematician.

At eighteen, she finished college with top marks.

In 1953, she started work at a government research center for airplanes.

She was a human computer, a woman who did hard math by hand.

Black women worked in a separate room.

The engineers had important meetings, but women did not go.

Katherine asked if there was a law against it.

There was not.

So she went.

In 1961, she calculated the path of the spaceship for the first American in space.

In 1962, John Glenn was ready to fly around the Earth.

Every spaceship needs an exact path.

New electronic computers calculated it.

But Glenn did not trust the machines.

Who could he trust?

He said: "Get the girl to check the numbers.

If she says they are good, I am ready to go."

Katherine was the woman who checked the numbers.

For a day and a half, she checked every number by hand.

The numbers were right.

On 20 February 1962, Glenn's ship made three orbits around the Earth.

Then it came home safely.

Later, she also calculated paths for the first trip to the Moon.

For many years, few people knew her name.

Then, in 2015, at 97, she received one of America's highest honors.

She died in 2020, at 101.

She was the girl who counted everything.

Let's review. Her professor said she would be a great mathematician.

She calculated the path of the spaceship.

Every spaceship needs an exact path.

She checked every number by hand.

Glenn's ship made three orbits around the Earth.

And remember: she was the woman who checked the numbers.

Katherine Johnson's story teaches us: careful work and brave questions can take people to the stars.

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