Katherine Johnson, NASA Mathematician Who Inspired Movie ‘Hidden Figures,’ Dies At 101

Katherine Johnson, one of NASA’s black woman “human computers” depicted in the movie Hidden Figures, died at age 101 on Monday.

Johnson’s mathematical skills helped rocket the first American man into orbit in 1962, and land men on the moon in 1969. Her name, along with the names of other black women mathematicians at NASA, stayed largely out of the limelight until the release of the film Hidden Figures in 2016. In the movie she was portrayed by Taraji P. Henson.

NASA announced her death on Twitter: