Mary Jackson (engineer), Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Mary Jackson (engineer)

mathematician and aerospace engineer

Date of Birth: 09-Apr-1921

Place of Birth: Hampton, Virginia, United States

Date of Death: 11-Feb-2005

Profession: computer scientist, mathematician, aerospace engineer

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Mary Jackson (née Winston, April 9, 1921 – February 11, 2005) was an African American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career.
She started as a computer at the segregated West Area Computing division in 1951.
She took advanced engineering classes and, in 1958, became NASA's first black female engineer. After 34 years at NASA, Jackson had earned the most senior engineering title available.
She realized she could not earn further promotions without becoming a supervisor.
She accepted a demotion to become a manager of both the Federal Women’s Program, in the NASA Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, and of the Affirmative Action Program.
In this role, she worked to influence the hiring and promotion of women in NASA's science, engineering, and mathematics careers. Jackson's story features in the 2016 non-fiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race.
She is one of the three protagonists in Hidden Figures, the film adaptation released the same year. In 2019, Jackson was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.