To say West's work was challenging would be an understatement. This system became known as the GPS (Global Positioning System). West was part of a team of scientists who worked to build a system that could use satellites to determine the location of objects on the Earth's surface. The military was interested in developing a system that could accurately determine the location of ships and submarines in the ocean. Her early projects centered on using mathematical models to calculate the shape of the Earth. Throughout their career, they would go on to have three children, finding a happy balance between their family and the important work they were a part of. He was one of only four black employees, including Gladys, at the Proving Ground. Shortly after beginning her work, she met the man she would marry, Ira West. Gladys was hired by the United States Department of Defense in 1956 as a computer programmer at the Naval Proving Ground. Revolutionary Work on the World’s First GPS Photo by Adrian Cadiz She was ready to make her mark regardless of what society expected of women like her. At every step of her career, Gladys stepped boldly into spaces where few to no black women had been before. She earned her degree in mathematics, a field dominated by white men, and then continued to get her master’s in mathematics. Gladys attended Virginia State College, now Virginia State University, a historically black college. She dedicated herself to school and graduated as valedictorian in 1948, earning the coveted scholarship that set the stage for the rest of her life. When she learned that a new state program was going to provide a scholarship to the top two students in her class, Gladys set her sights and got to work. She excelled in her schoolwork and proved herself as a gifted student with a strong interest in mathematics. Despite her limited educational opportunities and limited access to technology, Gladys got the most out of it. Her earliest education was in a one-room, mixed-age, segregated schoolhouse, a 3-mile hike from her home. From an early age, she knew the fields were not for her and that her only way out would be through education. Growing up in a rural community, Gladys spent much of her childhood working on the family farm, but she always knew she was destined for more. Gladys West was born in 1930 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, the daughter of a farmer and a homemaker. We reflected on innovations from Frederick McKinley Jones and George Washington Carver and this week, we’re looking at the work of Gladys West, a mathematician and computer programmer who changed the world with her foundational work on the world’s first GPS technology. At Lineage Logistics, we are proud to celebrate Black History Month and the contributions of Black Americans to our industry and our world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |