Air Force.īlavitize your inbox! Join our daily newsletter for fresh stories and breaking news. SpaceX's first GPS III satellite will launch on Tuesday with the help of the U.S. Gladys West was honored at the Pentagon as one of the 2018 Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers for her contributions to the space program. ![]() Unable to attend the Aug 2018 induction ceremony, Dr. The official Air Force Space Command shared a tweet about the recent ceremony that took place. “You have used your knowledge of computer applications to accomplish this in an efficient and timely manner.” “This involved planning and executing several highly complex computer algorithms which have to analyze an enormous amount of data,” Ralph Neiman, her supervisor who recommended her for commendation in 1979, said. Gladys West served as a mathematician at the Naval Proving Ground (now the Naval Surface Warfare Center) in Dahlgren, VA for forty-two years before her retirement in 1998. From the mid-1970s to the 1980s, her computing work on a geodetic Earth model led to what became the first GPS orbit. West Mathematician (retired), Naval Proving Ground, Dahlgren, VA Dr. Naval Weapons Laboratory to support research around Pluto's motion. Learning Her Way through Town The town Gladys West was born in is Sutherland, Virginiaa community where people spent long hours working in fields and gardening to provide for their family. Gladys West, an Auxiliary from Sutherland, Virginia. During the early 1960s, she was commissioned by the U.S. Because such technology is readily available, you can thank Dr. During this time, she was one of the few women hired by the military to do advanced technological work. West spent 42 years working on the naval base at Dahlgren, Virginia. that does not utilize the Global Positioning System.”ĭr. “There is not a segment of this global society - military, auto industry, cell phone industry, social media, parents, NASA, etc. “GPS has changed the lives of everyone forever,” James said. ![]() Gwen James, her sorority sister, told The Associated Press she discovered her longtime friend's achievements when she was compiling a bio for senior members of the group. She graduated at the top of her class in 1948, earning a. She discovered early on that she needed an education to get out of her situation. Her family was an African-American farming family in a community of sharecroppers. The Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority member, born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, earned a full scholarship to Virginia State University after graduating high school at the top of her class. Gladys West (born Gladys Mae Brown) was born in 1930 in Virginia and is known for her contributions to GPS technology. On December 6, the 87-year-old woman was inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame by the United States Air Force during a ceremony at the Pentagon. Gladys West was recognized for doing the computing responsible for creating the Geographical Positioning System, more commonly referred to as the GPS. A "hidden figure" in the development of GPS technology has officially been honored for her work.
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