RIP Katherine Johnson: The extraordinary NASA mathematician astronauts trusted over computers Katherine Johnson, the pioneering African-American mathematician whose calculations ensured NASA's astronauts safely set foot on the Moon in 1969, died today. She was 101. Born Katherine Coleman on August 26, 1918, she was an exceptionally precocious child, and was allowed to skip several grades ahead in school. Mentored by …
RIP indeed..
101 years is a helluva innings.
Coincidentally, I sat and watched Hidden Figures only yesterday - a cracking film.
I only noticed two anachronisms - I dare say others will have noticed more.
1. The 7090 computer is described as a 'mainframe' - the term hadn't been invented back then. There weren't any 'minis' or 'micros' to compare against.
2.There's a sequence at about the 55-minute mark where two Redstones blow up, followed by another explosion... which I'm pretty sure is the Challenger disaster. There's just no mistaking the shape and colour of that fireball hurtling through the sky.
The term 'mainframe' dates back a long way: telephone exchanges had 'mainframes' in 1918 for instance.
It probably didn't mean quite what it does now in the late 1950s, but it was a term that was in use then. I suspect it might have been more common to talk about the 'computer mainframe' (or mainframes) (ie the cabinet or cabinets with the logic and fast memory perhaps) rather than 'mainframe computer' meaning 'something big enough to have a main frame').
You're probably right that people would not have referred to the thing as a 'mainframe' but the term did exist.
101 years is a helluva innings.
Yes, and it's lovely that she lived long enough to receive the Medal of Freedom during her lifetime, and see her contributions properly acknowledged. Posthumous recognition would have been better than nothing, but it's far better to show the recipient our appreciation.
An inspiration to everyone. Never truer a term is used that we stand on the shoulders of those who come before. In Mrs. Johnson's and those who served NACA and then NASA they have laid a foundation in mathematics and computing still in use today.
It is a sad day. I think my next rocket will be named after her.
BvB
Firstly, I'd like to send my condolence to the Johnson family. Katherine's achievements should never be forgotten by us.
I think they were called "data processing systems" not mainframes when the 7090 was released and earlier. The systems were made of cabinets and frames holding modules. Telephone system also had equipment mounted in frames so the phrase "main frame" was in prior use, but not the modern definition applied to computers after the mid-1960's. My mother worked in a data processing department as a computer operator in the 1960's and early 70's of MLC insurance company in Australia.
Quoted from an answer by "mgkrebbs":
"The term became more widely adopted, in particular for the large central computer used by a company as distinguished from smaller computers which began to appear in the 1960s. It is not terribly surprising that the earliest source quoted by the Oxford English Dictionary for mainframe is a 1964 glossary from Honeywell, then a producer (among other things) of smaller computers and soon minicomputers."
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/28290/origin-of-the-word-mainframe
My wife is a real technophobe, and when I suggested that we watch Hidden Figures one evening, and I described it as a film about women involved in the background of the US space program, she heard "space program" and "mathematicians" and said that she didn't want to watch it.
We didn't find anything else she wanted, so I put it on anyway, and by about a quarter of the way through, she had changed her mind, and by the end, she was completely engrossed. So even if you don't think that you want to watch a film about the space program, watch this one. I promise it is worth seeing.
There was some artistic license apparently, but I think it was a fitting tribute to these women of colour who had everything stacked against them, and still managed to make a difference.
NA{CS}A was actually ahead of the times.
Remember two things about the "blacks only" section:
1. They had skilled technical jobs (as opposed to menial labor)
2. It was the South in the 50s and 60s.
Doesn't make it right, but perhaps they were pushing the envelope a bit. Many small changes can be just as powerful as one big one, and sometimes an awful lot easier to get through.
I once worked briefly with a white South African who was running what was almost a covert "educate the blacks" operation in a factory in Germiston. He was quietly turning semi-skilled jobs into skilled ones and nobody objected because output and quality were going up. The "inspection department" was turning into the "quality management" department.
Discrimination was not even trumped by the exigencies of war. As well as having a segregated army in WW II, the Pentagon, which was built during the war at great trouble and expense was nevertheless overprovisioned with toilets and canteens to permit the racial segregation required by the law of Virginia.
You would hope that organisations based on science and technology would have a better record, but it's unfortunately not the case.
A former friend, now dead, and his company in Italy in WW2 had to be kept away from American units so they wouldn't find out that a white British company was being run by a half West Indian major, in case it provoked riots.
It isn't entirely about the organisation and what it wants, but the need to be able to run the organisation despite the racist workforce. There are more of them than there are management.
This video that was played to US GIs on their voyage to UK in WW2.
https://youtu.be/ltVtnCzg9xw
Around 25 minutes to see how they regarded race matters.
"you mean we have to get over our prejudices". They had to warn the GIs that English women would happily talk to black people and invite them for tea.
Complete with Bob Hope cameo.
Growing up in the 70s, ie old enough to be watching "adult" TV instead of just kids shows, I was always impressed that US TV shows always seemed to shoe black people in positions of power, doctors, lawyers, judges etc, something I didn't really see in British TV shows, and how advanced the US must be in equality. Looking back now, how little I knew! (and yes, I'm aware of the vast disparity across various US states, but even so, was quite shocked to learn how recent actual and legal discrimination was.
Amazing achievements and the film was a great watch - the trouble with hollywood is they are prone to completely fictionalising the factual that you can never be sure how closely it relates to true life. Great to see most of it was true.
Although in the article
"...she was unable to find a job in academia during a time when African Americans were heavily discriminated against. Instead, she became a school teacher."
Doesn't seem to make sense unless "academia" no longer includes schools?
Funnily enough I saw the film for the first time just a couple of weeks ago and I can echo others when I say it is a thoroughly enjoyable watch.
The character played by Kevin Costner was, according to something I saw on their website, an amalgamation of people, who at the time helped to ensure that both the space programme was a success and racial and sexual equality was being undertaken.
And although it feels like we've come so far in the last 50 or so years, one look at the wolrd around us and it feels precariously like we could slip so easily backwards if we're not careful.
Thart said, what an incredible person and what truly momentous achievements. Truly, the shoulders of giants.
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