Who Was Katherine Johnson?

An intelligent girl who loved math and started high school at ten years old
A mathematician who worked for NASA—the space exploration agency in the United States—and assisted in the first moon landing mission in 1969
One of the most celebrated Black scientists in American history

Read all about how a young Black girl who loved numbers grew into a brilliant mathematician who helped land the first person on the moon in this inspiring addition to the Who Was? series.

From a very young age, Katherine Johnson counted everything—the number of dirty dishes she’d washed, the steps she walked to church, and even the number of leaves on the trees. By 1928, she was so intelligent and skilled at math that she was able to skip several grades and start high school at age ten! And while Katherine had to deal with racism, segregation, and prejudice throughout her life, she did not let this hold her back from becoming a mathematician.

In 1953, she started working as a “human computer” at America’s space agency, now known as NASA. Katherine calculated complex equations by hand, and these calculations helped astronauts travel safely into space. She was a part of many important missions, including the Apollo 11 mission that put the first person on the moon.

Katherine Johnson broke barriers and became a trailblazer for women and people of color in the fields of math and science, and her story in this illustrated biography shows young readers that with hard work and determination, anyone can reach for the stars!