Black History Month: Hidden Figure on the West Coast

Janez Lawson



Janez Lawson, front row center

With a degree in chemical engineering, Janez Lawson, joined the team of computers (women mathematicians and scientists) at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. She became the first African-American woman to be a part of the team, and Ms. Lawson was one of two women who received advance training from IBM about how to use their computers. Ms. Lawson learned how to program the IBM 701 computer. After working for the Jet Propulsion Lab, Ms. Lawson worked as a chemical engineer for the Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation, an aeronautical company (Holt, 127).

________________________________
Sources:
Holland, B. (2016). Human Computers: The Women of NASA. History.com. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/news/human-computers-women-at-nasa

Holt, N. (2016). Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars. New York: Little, Brown and Company.