MARY W JACKSON (1921-2005)

 

From Sampath’s Desk:

 

 

MARY W JACKSON (1921-2005)

(The first non-white space-scientist to enter NASA!)

 

The naming of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) headquarters building in Washington D.C. after its first African-American female engineer Ms. Mary W Jackson (born Mary Winston) was a heartening and befitting gesture. A welcome step, it is certainly a confidence-booster sure to be a source of strength and encouragement to the non-whites living in the U.S. It is a great recognition of her long and meritorious service in NASA. Even though one can't and doesn’t expect the measure to set everything right 100 percent in the U.S. in the matter of equality, it's a good harbinger. After all, even a journey of thousand miles starts with a single step. The U.S. authorities deserve appreciation for this. 

 

A mathematician and aerospace engineer, Ms. Jackson officially became NASA’s first non-white woman engineer in 1958. Before pursuing a career in aerospace, she was a math teacher, subsequently worked as a bookkeeper, and as a U.S. Army secretary. She started out with NASA in the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, before leading programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers.

 

Ms. Mary broke down racial and gender barriers to become part of NASA. Now, 15 years after her passing in 2005, the Space Agency has made the announcement, a glorious tribute to the pioneer who stood a tall and strong pillar of inspiration for generations of non-whites living in the U.S., particularly the minority women to scale new peaks of performance in all fields, the recent highlight being the 56-year-old Indian-origin former California Senator Ms. Kamala Devi Harris becoming the new Vice President of the U.S. Ms. Mary was one of many incredible and talented professionals in NASA’s history who richly contributed to the agency’s success.

 

Ms. Mary authored or co-authored a dozen or so research reports that predominantly focused on the behaviour at the boundary layer of air around airplanes. Struggling to break through the glass ceiling to management level, she left aeronautical engineering behind in 1979 to become Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager. In this position, she influenced the hiring and promotion of NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists, before retiring in 1985. She was posthumously conferred with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2019.

 

Many admired and applauded her great leadership and insights. Engineering with a difference, building dreams into reality, and innovation with daring qualities were the hallmarks of her performance par excellence. Things once believed to be well nigh impossible were made possible by her, clothed as she were with comprehending wisdom, innovative and creative acumen, volcanic zeal to make trail-blazing advances in her area of activity, the professional grit and gumption, prudent perceptions, tact, and other intellectual properties and pursuits that defined her.

  

R.SAMPATH

2/7/2020