DiscussMormonism.com

An elementary school in Salt Lake City previously named after former President Andrew Jackson will now be honoring NASA’s first black female engineer, Mary Jackson.

Following a unanimous vote from Salt Lake’s school board on Tuesday night, the school formerly known as Jackson Elementary is now Mary Jackson Elementary. In 1958, Mary Jackson became NASA’s first black female engineer, a story told in both the recent movie and original book “Hidden Figures.”

Principal Dr. Jana Edward says the decision to change the name was two-fold. The Rose Park community, where the school is located, wanted a more appropriate figurehead for their diverse student body — 85 percent come from minority backgrounds. And, Mary Jackson serves as an example to the students of pursuing a dream career in science or math in spite of the odds.

“It’s powerful for them as we try to recruit more students of color, particularly girls, into the STEM fields," says Edward. "You can have lots of barriers placed in front of you and you can still be smarter than anyone else in the room."

The school’s new name will be formally recognized with a celebration in the spring.

In 1951 Jackson was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).[4][5][7] She started as a research mathematician, or computer, at the Langley Research Center in her hometown of Hampton, Virginia. She worked under Dorothy Vaughan in the segregated West Area Computing Section.[2]

In 1953 she accepted an offer to work for engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. The 4 by 4 foot (1.2 by 1.2 m), 60,000 horsepower (45,000 kW) wind tunnel used to study forces on a model by generating winds at almost twice the speed of sound.[2] Czarnecki encouraged Jackson to undergo training so that she could be promoted to an engineer. She needed to take graduate-level courses in math and physics to qualify for the job. They were offered in a night program by the University of Virginia, held at the all-white Hampton High School. Jackson petitioned the City of Hampton to allow her to attend the classes. After completing the courses, she was promoted to aerospace engineer in 1958, and became NASA's first black female engineer.[8][5][2] She analyzed data from wind tunnel experiments and real-world aircraft flight experiments at the Theoretical Aerodynamics Branch of the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley.[4] Her goal was to understand air flow, including thrust and drag forces, in order to improve United States planes.[4]

Jackson worked as an engineer in several NASA divisions: the Compressibility Research Division, Full-Scale Research Division, High-Speed Aerodynamics Division, and the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division.[6] She ultimately authored or co-authored 12 technical papers for NACA and NASA.[6][9][10][11] She worked to help women and other minorities to advance their careers, including advising them how to study in order to qualify for promotions.[12]

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:eta: I was stationed at Redstone Arsenal and had the opportunity to not only tour multiple NASA facilities, but meet a wide variety of NASA personnel, be briefed on their work, and really just get an insider's look at the remarkable work a lot of these people are doing in a variety of endeavors. So, this move by SLC schools is kind of cool for me because I think more people like the kind you find in NASA ought to be memorialized. I think it's good for our country and it's a move in the right direction.

- Doc

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:This is kind of neat:

subgenius wrote:

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:This is kind of neat:

I'm sure it is, for a white guy....and those other white guys.

subgenius wrote:

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:This is kind of neat:

I'm sure it is, for a white guy....and those other white guys.

Gunnar wrote:I haven't read the book, but I saw the movie based on it. It is one of my favorite movies (if not the my number one favorite). I realize, though, that even the best movie based on a great book almost always comes short of doing full justice to the book on which it is based, so I will have to add that book to my reading list too.