Katherine Johnson was born on Aug. 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia and went on to being one of three handpicked black students to integrate West Virginia’s graduate schools. She went on to be the third African American to recieve a PhD in Mathematics. However, her biggest accomplishment was as an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. During her 35-year career at NASA and its predecessor, she earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform the tasks. The space agency noted her "historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist".