Katherine Johnson - My Remarkable Journey A Memoir.

To my husband and parents, who were always a great source of inspiration and support, and to young people seeking to make a better world through the field of science

Title Page

Dedication

Foreword by Dr. Yvonne Darlene Cagle

. Nobody Else Is Better Than You

. Education Matters

. A Time for Everything

. The Blessing of Help

. Be Ready

. Ask Brave Questions

. Tomorrow Comes

. Love What You Do

. Shoot for the Moon

. Finish Strong

. Land on a Firm Foundation

Acknowledgments

Notes

Photo Section

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

I knew about Dr. Katherine Johnson more than two decades ago, but I didnt know I knew her. A few years ago, in 2016, I went to the first reunion of black astronauts. During one part of the evening, Joylette Hylick, Dr. Johnsons daughter, was a speaker, and she was telling this amazing story about her mother. I wanted to meet Dr. Johnson. Everybody did. And so I tried to get to Joylette after the talk, but I couldnt. Just about the time that I was ready to give up, and she was about to walk away, she turned to me and said, Dr. Cagle?

And I said, Yes, I have this picture that I signed for your mother. I told her that even if Im never able to meet her, it would mean everything if she would take this picture to her. Joylette looked at me said, Dr. Cagle, youve already met mom.

And I was thinking, no, I would have known. I thought she must have confused me with someone else. But Joylette insisted, No, you have met mom! As a matter of fact, youve taken a picture with her. She saw the doubt in my mind and knew I wasnt fully convinced yet, so she said, Ill tell you what. Im going to prove it to you.

About two weeks later, I got a text message, and it said, I told you so! I opened it, and the first thing I saw was this picture of me in 1997, decades ago, and I was blown away. And all of a sudden my eyes dropped down, and I saw this woman who looked very familiar. It was an awards picture, and I was one of the award recipients. Sitting directly in front of me... oh my gosh, when it hit me, I was just floored. It was Dr. Katherine Johnson! And it all came back to me. It had been my first astronaut appearance ever. I had just finished my astronaut candidacy training, and this was the first event they allowed me to attend. It was in Philadelphia for the National Technology Associations annual convention. The NTA was established as a black engineering association before black engineers were allowed to join other groups. Dr. Johnson at one time had been the organizations treasurer. There was an awards ceremony later that night, and the organization recognized a few people, including Dr. Johnson and me.

I remember the presenter mentioning an African American woman, an African American mathematician from NASA, and I remember thinking, why dont we know about each other? I was in my blue astronaut suit, and I remember thinking that we need to connect. I wanted to go afterwards to meet her, but there were so many people surrounding the astronaut blue suit that I never got to her. I figured we would meet somewhere again, but it never happenedat least not for nearly two decades.

When I met Dr. Johnson face to face a short time after that encounter with her daughter, it was such a seminal moment for me. But one of the things I have a hard time reconciling is knowing there was so much lost time. This woman became my real heroine. She couldve been my mentor years before. Who I would have been and what I could have done under her mentorship, I just think was a gift that I cant regain. But it makes the time that I had with her that much more precious and impactful.

It begs the question: why didnt I know about her even before 1997? Why didnt all little girls know, especially little girls of color? Why did I have to go through so much hurt and heartache in life when I could have looked at her and held my head high and stepped through with such poise, comportment, and grace? Why couldnt I have had that voice that spoke, not just to the world, but to my heart, to my resolve? I cannot find consolation, reconciliation, or any rational reason why that had to be so.

Thats why after I did get to know her, she became more than a mission in my mind. She became a movement, an entire movement. I got to know her and her story. And I was more present than I might have been if I had not felt the headwind, the cold, the sorts of barriers I had to encounter on my own. As I learned about her story, it became my story, and we became one. Her words became my words. Her voice largely became my voice. I actually found my voice in sitting at her feet, learning from her, and hearing her voice about how she stepped through it. When she stepped through the barriers, her steps were hidden. They were silent. But when she was given voice, she spoke about it with such uncompromising grace. Whether there were barriers or bands or badges, it didnt matter to her. It was all the same. She was going to do her best. She was just doing her job. And thats what she said, Always do your best.

The family invited me to go to NASAs screening at Langley of the movie, Hidden Figures, and there were many other events. We ended up going to the New York screening, the Smithsonian, and the White House. We did a number of interviews together. But to me, you take away the red carpet and the cameras, and it was always just she and I having a conversation. After about a year or two, that eventually turned into our Sunday conversations, Sunday chats. We just continued to have these Sunday chats back and forth, where we let our hair down and talked about absolutely everything. We started out talking about the science, the math, and the engineering, but there came a point where we talked about everything from her life, my life. I know what its like to be that hidden figure. Thats why it affects me so deeply. She never made me feel hidden. Thats why those Sundays were so important.

When asked how she dealt with the discrimination and segregation at NASA during her era, she said she was always aware of it but that when she passed through those gates, she had a job to do. And no matter what was going on, she always did her best. She didnt have perspective on the impact of what she did. And so she genuinely didnt understand all the attention she was getting after the book and the movie. I was just doing my job, she said. The way she saw it, she was doing the work that the men wouldnt do because they were doing more important things.

In 2018, the whole world was celebrating when it was announced that NASA was planning to go back to the moon. It had been several weeks, and no one from NASA had thought to tell Dr. Mom (thats what I began calling her), and so I told Joylette that I would love the honor of letting her know we were going back. When I told her over the phone, I was sitting at my kitchen table in California, and she was in Virginia. And she was so excited. She said, Thats just wonderful. Now, this is what you need to do. She immediately went to work. She said, The first thing you need to do is plant a garden. I thought I had misheard. In my mind, Im thinking its a wonderful, beautiful idea, but at one hundred years old, you can envision whatever you want. Turns out, she knew exactly what she was talking about. Right after that, she said, You cant just plant a garden. You have to make sure the soil content is correct because if you dont have enough nitrogen in the soil, nothing is going to grow, and its primarily carbon dioxide youve got to look at. Youve got to figure out how to make the carbon dioxide-oxygen ratio just right so you can grow the plants, and the plants can give off the oxygen. Then I realized she was engineering, and she was ahead of me. I needed to get on board and catch up to her. And so instead of trying to question, correct, or whatever I might want to do, I got a piece of paper and started writing furiously. And thirty-five minutes later, I had a recipe for planting a garden on the moon. I knew it was precise and correct because I am a biochemist and a physician, and I knew those are the compounds that you need to make sure are in the right concentrations and ratios. I was just writing and thinking, One hundred years old, I cant believe it. Her mind was so sharp all the way to the day before she passed on. I say passed on, not passed away, because she is still with us.