Mary Jackson (engineer)

Mary Jackson (April 9, 1921 – February 11, 2005) was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career.

Mary Jackson was born on April 9, 1921, to Ella Winston (née Scott) and Frank Winston.

She grew up in Hampton, Virginia, where she graduated from high school with highest honors.

Jackson earned bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physical science from Hampton University in 1942.

She was initiated into the Gamma Theta chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority at Hampton.

Jackson served for more than 30 years as a Girl Scout leader.

By 1943, she had returned to Hampton, where she became a bookkeeper at the National Catholic Community Center there.

She worked as a receptionist and clerk at the Hampton Institute's Health Department.

She was pregnant during this time and eventually returned home for the birth of her son.

Jackson was married on November 18, 1944, to Levi Jackson Sr., a sailor in the U.S. Navy, until his death in 1992.

They had two children, Levi Jackson Jr. and Carolyn Marie Lewis.

After graduation, Mary Jackson taught mathematics for a year at an African-American school in Calvert County, Maryland.

At that time, public schools were still segregated across the South.

She also began tutoring high school and college students, which she continued to do throughout her life.

She started as a computer at the segregated West Area Computing division in 1951.

In 1951, she became a clerk at the Office of the Chief Army Field Forces at Fort Monroe.

In 1951, Jackson was recruited by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), which in 1958 was succeeded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

She started as a research mathematician, or computer, at the Langley Research Center in her hometown of Hampton, Virginia.

She worked under Dorothy Vaughan in the segregated West Area Computing Section.

In 1953, she accepted an offer to work for engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki in the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel.

The 4 by, 60000 hp wind tunnel was used to study forces on a model by generating winds at almost twice the speed of sound.

Czarnecki encouraged Jackson to undergo training so that she could be promoted to an engineer.

She needed to take graduate-level courses in mathematics and physics to qualify for the job.

They were offered in a night program by the University of Virginia, held at the all-white Hampton High School.

Jackson petitioned the City of Hampton to allow her to attend the classes.

In 1958, after taking engineering classes, she became NASA's first black female engineer.

After 34 years at NASA, Jackson had earned the most senior engineering title available.

She realized she could not earn further promotions without becoming a supervisor.

She accepted a demotion to become a manager of both the Federal Women's Program, in the NASA Office of Equal Opportunity Programs and of the Affirmative Action Program.

In this role, she worked to influence the hiring and promotion of women in NASA's science, engineering, and mathematics careers.

After completing the courses, she was promoted to aerospace engineer in 1958, and became NASA's first black female engineer.

She analyzed data from wind tunnel experiments and real-world aircraft flight experiments at the Theoretical Aerodynamics Branch of the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley.

Her goal was to understand air flow, including thrust and drag forces, in order to improve United States planes.

Jackson worked as an engineer in several NASA divisions: the Compressibility Research Division, Full-Scale Research Division, High-Speed Aerodynamics Division, and the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division.

In the 1970s she helped African American children in her community create a miniature wind tunnel for testing airplanes.

Jackson's story features in the 2016 non-fiction book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Who Helped Win the Space Race.

She is one of the three protagonists in Hidden Figures, the film adaptation released the same year.

In 2019, Jackson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

In 2021, the Washington, D.C. headquarters of NASA was renamed the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters.