Dorothy Vaughan
An American mathematician who worked for NASA and was one of the agency's first African-American managers.
Most quoted
"I saw the writing on the wall and I got into the computer business. I'm not going to sit around and wait for them to tell me what to do."
— from Biography/Interviews, 1960
"Girls are capable of doing everything men are capable of doing. Sometimes they have more imagination than men."
— from Interview, 1980
"I always said, 'If you're going to do something, do it right.' Especially if it's sending someone into space."
— from Fictionalized accounts/interpretations
All quotes by Dorothy Vaughan (374)
The computer was coming, and I made sure we were ready for it.
Women in math? We were the original computers.
Persistence in numbers leads to progress in life.
At NACA, we calculated the impossible.
My race was not a factor in my work; my work was the factor.
From the West Area Computers to the stars, we paved the way.
If you can't find a path, calculate one.
We endured the barriers and broke through with brains.
Mathematics doesn't discriminate; people do.
I supervised not just computers, but futures.
The trajectory of success is plotted with determination.
In 1943, I started a revolution in computation.
Humor in the control room: 'This rocket's math is out of this world!'
Life's equations balance with effort and equity.
We computed under segregation, but dreamed of integration.
FORTRAN was my language of liberation.
As a mother and mathematician, I multiplied opportunities.
The West Computers were unbreakable algorithms.
Ignorance of math is the real space barrier.
I turned pencils into programs.
Contemporaries of Dorothy Vaughan
Other Mathematicss born within 50 years of Dorothy Vaughan (1910–2008).