Gladys West facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Gladys West
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West in 2018
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| Born |
Gladys Mae Brown
October 27, 1930 Sutherland, Virginia, U.S.
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| Known for | Satellite geodesy |
| Spouse(s) |
Ira West
(m. 1957; died 2024) |
| Children | 3 |
Gladys Mae West (born October 27, 1930) is an amazing American mathematician. She is famous for her important work on understanding the shape of the Earth. Her calculations helped create the Global Positioning System (GPS) that we all use today for navigation!
In 2018, West was honored by being added to the United States Air Force Hall of Fame. She also received the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on satellite models.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Gladys West was born Gladys Mae Brown in Sutherland, Virginia. This was a small, rural area. Her family were farmers who worked on land owned by others, a system called sharecropping.
Gladys spent a lot of her childhood helping on the family farm. Her mom worked in a tobacco factory, and her dad was a farmer who also worked for the railroad. Gladys knew early on that she didn't want to work in the fields or factories. She decided that getting a good education was her way to a different future.
When Gladys was about to finish high school, her family didn't have enough money for college. Her parents tried to save, but it was hard to support a whole family. Gladys started babysitting to help save money for her studies.
Luckily, her high school offered a special scholarship. The top two students in each graduating class received full scholarships to Virginia State College. Gladys worked very hard and graduated as the best student in her class in 1948. This meant she got the scholarship she needed!
At college, Gladys wasn't sure what to study. She was good at all her subjects. Her teachers encouraged her to study science or math because they were challenging. Gladys chose mathematics, a subject mostly studied by men at her college.
She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1952. After graduating, she taught math and science for two years. Then, she went back to Virginia State University. She completed her Master of Mathematics degree in 1955.
Career
In 1956, Gladys West got a job at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia. This place is now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center. She was only the second Black woman ever hired there. There were only four Black employees at the time.
Gladys first turned down the job because she didn't have a car. She also couldn't find Dahlgren on a map. She worried they might reject her because of her race. But Dahlgren reached out again and offered her the job without an interview. The salary was twice what she made teaching. This was a rare chance for a Black woman at that time. She was hired just because of her skills.
During her career, Gladys faced many challenges due to racism. She often didn't get the same recognition as her white co-workers. They received more praise and special treatment.
Gladys worked as a programmer for large computers. She also managed projects that processed satellite data. While working, she earned another master's degree in public administration.
In the early 1960s, she helped with an important study about space. This study proved that Pluto's movement was regular compared to Neptune. After this, West started to study data from satellites. She used this data to create models of the Earth's shape.
She became the project manager for the Seasat project. This was the first satellite that could study oceans from space using radar altimetry. Gladys often worked extra hours. She helped her team finish their work in half the usual time. She was recognized for her hard work in 1979.
The Civil Rights movement was happening during her time at the base. Gladys supported the movement. However, she couldn't join protests because she worked for the government. She was part of a club for Black women on base. They discussed civil rights topics together.
From the mid-1970s to the 1980s, West programmed a powerful computer. She made it perform very exact calculations to model the shape of the Earth. In her autobiography, West wrote about solving complex problems. These problems were too hard for other team members. West's model eventually became the foundation for the Global Positioning System (GPS).
In 1986, West published a technical report. It was about the data processing system for the Geosat Satellite. Gladys West worked at Dahlgren for 42 years. She retired in 1998. After retiring, she earned a PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech.
Personal Life
Gladys met her husband, Ira West, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. He was also a mathematician there. They were two of only four Black employees at the time. They got married in 1957.
They have three children: Carolyn, David, and Michael. They also have seven grandchildren. The West family went to Chapel on the Proving Ground every Sunday. As of February 2018, Gladys West lives in King George County, Virginia. Her husband passed away on October 20, 2024.
Interesting Facts About Gladys West
- West was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018. This is one of the highest honors from the Air Force Space Command.
- In 2018, she won the "Female Alumna of the Year" award. This was from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Awards.
- She completed her PhD in Public Administration in 2018. She was in her late 80s when she earned this degree!
- The BBC chose West as one of their 100 Women of 2018.
- In 2021, she received the Prince Philip Medal. This is the highest individual honor from the UK's Royal Academy of Engineering.
- Even though she helped invent GPS, West still prefers using a paper map. She says she trusts her brain more than a tracking system.
- Like NASA mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, West is often called one of history’s “hidden figures.”
- In 2024, a new elementary school in Virginia was named in her honor: Gladys West Elementary School.
Gladys West Quotes
- "I'm a doer, hands-on kind of person. If I can see the road and see where it turns and see where it went, I am more sure."
- “When you’re working every day, you’re not thinking, 'What impact is this going to have on the world?' You're thinking, 'I've got to get this right.'"
- "Always doing things just right, to set an example for other people who were coming behind me, especially women."
See also
In Spanish: Gladys West para niños
