Dorothy Vaughan

Dorothy Vaughan was an American mathematician and computer programmer. She was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1910. She became NASA's first Black female supervisor. She taught herself and her team to program computers.

Early Life

Vaughan graduated from college with a math degree at age 19. She worked as a math teacher for many years. During World War II, she joined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. She was assigned to a segregated group of Black female mathematicians called the West Computers.

NASA Pioneer

In 1949, Vaughan became the first Black woman to supervise a group at the agency. When electronic computers began replacing human calculators, she taught herself the programming language FORTRAN. She then taught her entire team how to program. Her story was featured in the book and movie Hidden Figures.

Fun Facts

• Dorothy Vaughan taught herself computer programming to stay ahead of changing technology.
• She was NASA's first Black female supervisor.
• She worked at NASA for 28 years.

Did You Know?

Dorothy Vaughan saw that electronic computers would replace human computers. Instead of waiting to be replaced, she learned programming and made sure her team learned it too.