Katherine Johnson of "Hidden Figures" Fame Dies at 101

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February 24, 2020

Dear Reader, Katherine Johnson, whose career making vital calculations for NASA was immortalized in the 2016 book and movie "Hidden Figures," has died at 101. The pioneering mathematician overcame barriers of racism and misogyny to help develop U.S. human spaceflight. Her legendary career with NASA lasted from 1953 to 1986. At age 97, in 2015, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. Also in today's news: The first official results from NASA's quake-hunting InSight Mars lander just came out; a new map of Antarctica reveals good and bad news about potential ice loss in different parts of the continent; and scientists say they have removed one of the last obstacles to commercializing a more efficient and cheaper solar panel made from an alternative material to silicon called perovskite.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Math Katherine Johnson of "Hidden Figures" Fame Dies at 101 The pioneering NASA mathematician overcame racial barriers to help humans reach the moon By Meghan Bartels,SPACE.com

Space NASA's InSight Lander Reveals New Details of Martian Quakes and Magnetism The spacecraft has recorded about 450 'Marsquakes' to date By Mike Wall,SPACE.com

Energy Lead-Trapping Coating Could Make Cheaper, More Efficient Solar Cell Viable Pervoskite solar cells can produce more energy than their silicon counterparts, but have risked leaching lead into the environment By John Fialka,E&E News

Mental Health What's Next for Psychology's Embattled Field of Social Priming A promising field of research on social behavior struggled after investigators couldn't repeat key findings. Now researchers are trying to establish what's worth saving By Tom Chivers,Nature magazine

Computing Hackers Could Shut Down Satellites--or Turn Them into Weapons The use of off-the-shelf components means bad actors can easily look for vulnerabilities By William Akoto,The Conversation US

EARTH Map of Antarctica's Bedrock Reveals Vulnerabilities A new view of the frozen continent could improve predictions for sea-level rise By Annie Sneed

FROM THE STORE Ask the Experts: Physics and Math Scientific American's  "Ask the Experts" column has been answering reader questions for nearly two decades. Now, we've combed through our archives and compiled some of the most interesting entries into a series of eBooks organized by subject. In the first of the series – Physics and Math – professors and researchers tackle a wide range of natural phenomena and mathematical concepts from what is antimatter to applications of game theory to what we know about tachyons.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE The Story of NASA's Real "Hidden Figures" African-American women working behind the scenes as "human computers" were vital to the Space Race By Elizabeth Howell,SPACE.com | January 2017

QUOTE OF THE DAY "I didn't allow their side-eyes and annoyed looks to intimidate or stop me. I also would persist even if I thought I was being ignored. If I encountered something I didn't understand, I'd just ask. And I kept asking no matter whose calculations I was evaluating--an engineer's or the head of the entire department." Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician

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