Born in 1918 in White Sulphur Springs, WV, Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) was a gifted child and had an increased proficiency in math at an early age. Due to segregation, Johnson's hometown didn't offer public school classes for black people past the eighth grade. Not wanting to squander her gift, her family moved to Institute, WV, for her to continue her education. Katherine proceeded to skip several grades and graduated high school at just 14 years old. She went on to receive degrees in mathematics and French before accepting a job in 1953 as a "human computer" by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics or NACA (which became NASA in 1958).
Her brilliance did not go unnoticed and, in 1961, she was transferred to the all-white male Space Task Group, helping calculate the trajectory of 1961 space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. From there, she calculated John Glenn's orbit around the Earth, in addition to contributing her skills to the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 missions to the moon. She continued to make significant strides in the scientific community before retiring from NASA in 1979. In 2015, President Barack Obama presented Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
She is currently 98 years old.
