Dorothy Johnson Vaughan (1910-2008)

Dorothy Vaughan, mathematician, graduated from Wilberforce University in Ohio and was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. During World War II she left her job as a teacher to work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), later NASA, at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory near Hampton. She was assigned to the West Area Computing Unit, a group of African American women responsible for processing aeronautical research data. In 1949, Vaughan became NACA’s first African American supervisor. She excelled at the FORTRAN computer programming language and contributed to the Scout launch vehicle project, a crucial component of the space program, before retiring in 1971.

Department of Historic Resources, 2019