- First black female engineer at NASA
- NASA headquarters are named after her
Welcome to our first woman of the week post! This week we are discussing Mary Jackson. I hope you enjoy!
Mary Jackson was a mathematician and aerospace engineer. She grew up in Hampton, Virginia. Ever since she was young, she had an interest in building miniature wind tunnels for testing airplanes. Jackson earned her bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and physical science from Hampton University in 1942.
To start her career, Jackson taught mathematics for a year at a segregated school. She also tutored high school and college students, which continued throughout her life. Jackson was recruited at NASA in 1951. Throughout her career, she authored and co-authored 12 technical papers for NASA, and by 1979, Jackson received the most senior title in the engineer department.
Mary Jackson was the first African American female engineer at NASA. Her accomplishments inspired many young women to pursue careers in the STEM field. She died in 2005. The 2016 historical film Hidden Figures shines light on Mary Jackson and two other African American female engineers at NASA and specifically describes their work during the Space Race. To honor her, NASA renamed their headquarters in Washington D.C. the Mary W. Jackson NASA headquarters.
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