Happy 99th Birthday to WV native Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson!

Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, African-American physicist and mathematician, was born August 26, 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, Greenbrier County, WV. She would become a pioneer in space science and computing working for NASA, even calculating complex rocket trajectories with a slide rule and pencil. She and her coworkers are the subject of the Oscar-nominated 2016 film Hidden Figures.

Ms. Johnson is a 2015 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and was given an honorary Doctorate from WVU in 2017. These are just two of numerous awards and accolades she has received for a lifetime of extraordinary achievement.