Annie Eosley's Annie Easley: A Pioneer

Annie Easley: A Pioneer Annie Easley was an African-American woman who was not recognized for her true potential during her career at the Lewis Research Center of the NACA and at NASA. She worked as mathematician, computer scientist, and rocket scientist for thirty four years while facing many obstacles throughout her career. Despite facing these adversities, she was still able to persevere and become an essential part of NASA during the Space Race. Growing up during segregation in Alabama was not easy for Annie Easley. There were not very many opportunities for African-American children when it came to getting an education and finding a job. African-American children were educated separately from white children, and their schools

She graduated as valedictorian in her class which proved her potential. She went on to attend Xavier University in Louisiana, then an African-American Roman Catholic University to major in pharmacy. Easley majored in pharmacy for two years before returning to Birmingham in 1954. By the time she returned home, there had been a series of laws known as the Jim Crow Laws that served as another outlet for racial division and segregation in Alabama. As part of the Jim Crow laws that established and maintained racial inequality, African Americans were required to pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax in order to vote. Due to Easley’s college level education, she was able to help others in her community pass the literacy test. Easley’s inspiration to become a computer scientist developed in 1955 when she read a newspaper article about two twin sisters who worked for the NACA as human computers. Getting hired was a huge feat for Easley because she was one of the four African Americans working at the research center. Although she now had a job, she still planned on continuing her education. In 1965, Easley was able to pursue higher forms of education away

This task required her to use her skills as a mathematician and computer engineer in order to perform computations for researchers, analyze problems, and complete calculations by hand. Her major achievement while working as a human computer involved the Plum Brook Reactor facility, which was a research nuclear reactor in Ohio that was later replaced by the Apollo project. Eventually, human computers were replaced by computing machines such as the IBM. She quickly became one of NASA’s best computer programmers by using computer programming languages like the Formula Translating System and the Simple Object Protocol to help support the rest of the computer programs. The major feats of her 34 year career included developing computer codes that analyzed alternative power technologies and helped create the Centaur upper-stage rocket as a computer and rocket scientist. She also determined solar, wind and energy projects; and identified energy conversion systems to solve energy problems such as space-related nuclear energy research and determining the use of storage batteries in utility vehicles as an engineer. Annie Easley is most famous for her part in creating the Centaur rocket. Her work successfully helped lay the groundwork for space shuttle launches, as well as launches of communication, weather, and military satellites. For example, her work contributed to the 1997 flight to Saturn of the