HR0810 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0810 LRB101 20925 ECR 70881 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of Katherine Johnson, who passed away on February 24, 2020; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson was born to Joylette and Joshua Coleman in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia on August 26, 1918; at the age of 15, she enrolled at West Virginia State College and graduated with the highest honors in math and French in 1937; with research opportunities for black female teenage mathematicians negligible, she took a job as a school teacher in Marion, Virginia, where she met and married James Goble; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson and her husband moved to Morrisville, West Virginia, where she was the first black woman to enroll in a master's class at West Virginia University in Morgantown; she left academia to raise her children but returned to teaching after her children were grown; and

WHEREAS, In June of 1953, Katherine Johnson was hired as a computer by Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory; though she faced Jim Crow laws and segregation, she thrived and was promoted to the flight research division after two weeks; in 1958, after years of pressure, she became the first woman to attend the editorial meetings of the guidance and control branch of what was to become the Aerospace Mechanics Division of NASA; and

WHEREAS, After her husband's death in 1956, Katherine Johnson married James A. Johnson in 1959; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson's calculations were crucial to many important NASA missions; she played a key role when Alan Shepard became the first American in space during his 1961 Mercury mission; John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, refused to fly unless she verified the mathematical work completed by NASA's digital computers; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson calculated trajectories when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first moon landing in July of 1969 and for the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 mission; she was also involved in the early years of the space shuttle and the Earth Resources satellite; after co-authoring 26 scientific papers and 33 years of service, she retired from NASA in 1986; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015; the BBC included her in its list of the 100 most influential women worldwide in 2016; West Virginia State University inaugurated a scholarship in her honor, and she received a plethora of honorary degrees and many awards from NASA; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson's contributions were largely unknown to the general public until the 2016 release of the Oscar nominated film Hidden Figures, which detailed the work she and fellow black female computers Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Johnson did for NASA; Katherine was honored with a standing ovation while on stage at that year's Academy Awards; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson spent her later years encouraging students to enter the fields of science, engineering, mathematics, and technology; she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first sorority established by and for African-American women, and was a stalwart of the choir at Carver Presbyterian Church in Newport for over half a century; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson was preceded in death by her parents, Joylette and Joshua Coleman; her first husband, James Goble; her second husband, James A. Johnson; and her daughter, Connie; and

WHEREAS, Katherine Johnson is survived by her two daughters, Joylette and Kathy; her six grandchildren; and her 11 great-grandchildren; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Katherine Johnson and extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Katherine Johnson as an expression of our deepest sympathy.