home » Autumn shoes » Hidden figures what is written at the end of the film. “Hidden Figures”: another tolerant story

Hidden figures what is written at the end of the film. “Hidden Figures”: another tolerant story

In addition to producing the film, Pharrell Williams also oversaw the composition of the film's music and the selection of songs for its soundtrack.

This film reunites Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner, who previously starred together in Black and White (2014).

Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monáe previously starred together in the film Moonlight"(2016). Both films were nominated for best movie At the 89th Academy Awards, Moonlight (2016) ultimately won the award.

There is a scene in the film in which John Glenn asks Katherine Johnson to double-check all the numbers on his mission, and if she confirms that the numbers are correct, then he will fly. Such a moment actually happened, only Glenn asked to check the numbers a few weeks before the launch, and not just before the launch at Cape Canaveral.

When Taraji P. Henson was cast main role, she went to meet the real-life Katherine Johnson, who was 98 years old at the time, to discuss the character Henson would play. From their conversation, Henson learned that Johnson graduated from high school at age 14 and college at 18. And despite her advanced age, she was able to maintain amazing clarity of mind. Afterwards, when Johnson saw the film, she expressed her wholehearted approval of Henson's portrayal of her, and was also very surprised that anyone would even want to make a film about her life.

Katherine Johnson hasn't actually personally experienced problems with restrooms. This situation was not with Johnson, but with Mary Jackson. She expressed her frustration at the situation to a colleague, and as a result, she was transferred to the wind tunnel team. Johnson was initially unaware that there were whites-only restrooms in the East Wing. She simply used toilets that were not marked, and this continued for many years until complaints began to be received.

One of the discrimination that Katherine experienced was when her co-workers asked her to use a separate coffee pot. When the film shows a table with a coffee pot, the name of the coffee is clearly visible - Chock Full o"Nuts. The use of this brand in the context of segregation is historically correct. In 1957, Chock Full o"Nuts became one of the first large companies New York, which made a black vice president of the company. The man they hired for the position was Jackie Robinson, a former baseball legend who is also known for being the first black player in Major League Baseball.

To create a certain mood in various scenes, work was done with color. In the NASA premises, everything was done in cold colors - white, gray, silver, but in Al Harrison's office and in the houses of the main characters, the colors, on the contrary, were made warm.

Scenes at Dorothy Vaughan's house, where the women play cards and dance, were filmed at a historic location in Atlanta, in a house where civil liberties met. civil rights– Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King.

In the scene in which Paul (Jim Parsons) talks to NASA engineers about the need for very precise calculations to return an astronaut from orbit, among the engineers is Mark Armstrong, the son of astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon during the Apollo mission. eleven". Actor Ken Strunk invited Mark Armstrong to make a cameo appearance in the scene.

Several control panels in mission control were taken from props in the film Apollo 13 (1995). These same panels were modified for use in films such as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Part I (2014) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. Part II" (2015).

At the 89th Academy Awards, before the announcement of the winner in the category "Best documentary» Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monae invited 98-year-old Katherine Johnson to the stage. The entire hall gave her a standing ovation.

The characters of Paul Stafford (Jim Parsons) and Vivienne Mitchell (Kirsten Dunst) were not based on real people. They represent collective images that convey the disdainful attitude towards people of different skin color, which was characteristic of some NASA employees in those days.

Katherine Johnson did have children at the time of her marriage to Jim Johnson, only they were already in their teens.

In reality, John Glenn was much older at the time of launch than he is shown in the film. The launch occurred in January 1962, when Glenn was almost 41 years old. The actor who played him, Glen Powell, was 27 years old during filming.

This is the second time Taraji P. Henson and Mahershala Ali have played two lovers. The first time this happened was in the film " Misterious story Benjamin Button" (2008).

The film's screenwriter, Allison Schroeder, grew up near Cape Canaveral. Her grandparents worked for NASA, and she interned at NASA as a teenager.

Octavia Spencer previously starred with Jim Parsons in Episode 5 of Season 2 of Theory big bang"(2007) (episode called "Euclidean Alternative"). Spencer played a Department of Motor Vehicles employee.

In this film, Octavia Spencer and Kirsten Dunst have many scenes together. Both actresses previously starred in Spider-Man (2002), but they did not have any scenes together, and Spencer only played a cameo role.

Ted Melfi was one of the contenders to direct Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), but ultimately withdrew to direct "Spider-Man: Homecoming" (2017). Hidden figures"(2016).

Among the actresses considered for the leading roles were Oprah Winfrey and Viola Davis.

This is the most successful project with the participation of Kirsten Dunst at the US box office after the Spider-Man franchise.

This is Kevin Costner's third film to tackle the Kennedy administration in one way or another. The first two were JFK: Shots Fired in Dallas (1991) and Thirteen Days (2000).

This is the third time that Octavia Spencer has starred in a film with one of the actresses from the Spider-Man film franchise. In the film The Help (2011), she played with Bryce Dallas Howard and Emma Stone. Both actresses played the role of Gwen Stacy: Howard in the film Spider-Man 3: Enemy in Reflection (2007), and Stone in the films The new Spiderman(2012) and The Amazing Spider-Man: High Voltage (2014). In Hidden Figures (2016), Spencer played opposite Kirsten Dunst, who played Mary Jane Watson in the original Spider-Man trilogy.

Errors in the film

When they talk about Yuri Gagarin's orbital flight on television, the flight time is announced in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). This standard was invented only in 1961, and was not yet called UTC.

In some scenes in Langley, a modern satellite dish is clearly visible on the roof.

When the 1957 Chevrolet won't start, Dorothy takes a screwdriver and shorts out something at the top of the engine, presumably the battery. A screwdriver was indeed used to close the contacts and start the starter, but in this car they were not located in the upper part of the engine, but on the lower right.

While Mary (Janelle Monae) watches John Glenn fly on the screen in the store window behind her, you can see the sign for the Cream ice cream store. Such stores appeared only in 2012.

In those days, tobacco use was common in engineers' offices and meetings. However, this is not reflected in the film.

A patrolman arrives to escort the women into town in a 1964 Ford Galaxie. However, these events take place in 1961.

The instructions for the IBM 7090 computer depict a company logo that was inappropriate for the time. So the IBM logo appeared only in 1972.

The cars in the film may have Virginia license plates that are not period correct. On the license plates of this state in 1961, the letters were black and angular, and the number itself usually consisted of 6 digits, separated by a dash in the middle. In the film, the license plates have blue fonts, which began to be used only in the early 1990s.

In a scene early in the film, Katherine Johnson is at school solving a multiplication problem in her head. Then the teacher will check her results on an electronic calculator. Electronic calculators began to be sold only in the mid-1970s.

In one scene set in 1961, IBM equipment is shown sitting on pallets and wrapped in stretch film. Such film began to be used for these purposes only in the 1970s.

In one scene, characters in the film use an IBM Selectric typewriter, which was first introduced only in July 1961.

Several cars in the scenes in the NASA parking lot do not change their position despite the fact that weeks and even months pass in the story.

In the original version of the film, Paul uses the expression "spot on" several times. However, this expression was not common in the 1960s. A more appropriate term for that time was "right on".

Footage of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center shows the access road to Launch Complex 39 (LC 39). In fact, the construction of this complex began only in 1962, so neither the road nor the vertical assembly building could have existed during the events described in the film.

For all characters who wear glasses, at certain angles it becomes noticeable that the lenses take on a light purple tint. This is a sign that the glasses have an anti-reflective coating, which in 1961 had not yet been applied to eyeglass lenses.

The four-door, dark blue 1962 Chevrolet can be seen in the NASA parking lot and at the church picnic, but these moments in the film take place in 1961.

The telephone cord that John Glenn uses is reinforced, vandal-resistant cable - something that was not available in 1961.

In the scenes when Catherine attends the demonstration, signs with the names of both Nixon and Kennedy are visible, although the election had taken place in 1960 and Kennedy had already become president.

There are two airplane models on a shelf in Al Harrison's office: a C-130 and a C-5 Galaxy. The C-130 was already in production at the time, but did not have a similar livery, and the C-5 Galaxy was not designed until 1964.

A black and white 1959 Plymouth appears in some scenes in the film. It has very large wheels, low profile tires and disc brakes, which are used in modern restomods.

In the 1961 scene in the NASA parking lot, you can see a 1962 Chevrolet Impala, a 1962 Chevrolet Nova, a green 1963 Mercury Comet, and even a Mercedes-Benz 280, produced between 1968 and 1973.

Among the new TVs in the store window you can see the Muntz model from 1951-1952, which was released 10 years before the events described in the film.

In one of the scenes in the film, a man approaches a printer, and at that moment the sound of a dot matrix printer is heard. However, the footage shows an IBM 716 printer, which sounds completely different.

With the exception of Kevin Costner's character, most of the men's haircuts do not match the time period in which the film takes place.

When Katherine's hands are shown for a few seconds as she types up a report, you can see wedding ring, however, in the story, she and Jim got engaged only a few months after this scene.

The punched cards that are prepared for the IBM 7090 computer are not punched. But by the time they start loading, it's already fixed.

At a meeting at the Pentagon, Katherine writes calculations on the board. At one point she starts writing the number 530 as 350, notices this and immediately makes changes. In the next shots, when she walks away from the board, all the numbers are correct, but there is no sign that she made any corrections.

When Katherine finds her daughters fighting in the bedroom, she calms them down. Then they spread out on the beds, and the pajamas on one of the daughters change position as the frame changes - she either sits straight, or is shifted to the side.

In one scene, when Catherine is talking to her three daughters in bed, the position of their hands changes dramatically as the shot changes.

Towards the end of the film, when Katherine is talking to Al Harrison in the control room, her necklace is worn over and under her clothes in different shots.

On the map of Africa in the main hall, the Republic of Mozambique is marked with a black icon, as a city, not as a country.

In one scene, the IBM 7090 computer is said to be able to perform 24,000 operations per second. In fact, this computer could perform 100,000 floating point operations per second.

When the heroines' car breaks down, Dorothy says the starter is broken. However, with the engine running, a broken starter would not cause the vehicle to stop. She goes on to say that you just need to bypass the starter, short out something under the hood, and then the engine starts. However, this is impossible. If the starter is faulty, the car would have to be pushed to start the engine.

The film states that Glenn was supposed to complete seven orbits, but due to problems with the heat shield, the number of complete orbits was reduced to three. In fact, only three full revolutions were originally planned. In addition, changing the flight plan would nullify all preliminary calculations, and the landing zone would also change, but nothing is said about all this in the film.

John Glenn's ship appears to be orbiting nose-first, when in fact it was moving heat shield forward.

At the beginning of the film, a Soviet rocket is shown that delivers the dog Laika into space. The Vostok capsule is visible at the top of the rocket. In fact, Laika flew in the Sputnik capsule. The Vostok capsule was used only for manned flights.

As John Glenn is driven to the launch pad, he is escorted by two police cars. Driving ahead is a patrol car with a Virginia badge, which is the same car that was in the first scene of the film, but the launch site is in Florida.

The failed launch scene clearly used footage of the Challenger shuttle exploding.

During their flights, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom are shown a global map that tracks their movements. However, none of them moved more than 320 kilometers from the cape.

In scenes that show the IBM 7090 computer running, the small round lights on its vertical panel are not lit. The flickering of these lights is an indicator that the computer is working.

When Alan Shepard is shown flying in space, a small receding Earth is visible in the background. In reality, Shepard made a suborbital flight, and his spacecraft never moved such a great distance from Earth.

In the first scene of the film, when the police arrive in a car to investigate a missing car, it is implied that they arrive in a Virginia State Patrol car. However, police cars in this state have never been black and white. They were blue-gray. Additionally, the police uniforms do not match the Virginia Police uniforms of the time.

In one scene, a computer model is referred to as a "seventy-ninety". In fact, the IBM 7090 was called the "seven-zero-ninety" because it was a transistorized version of the 709.

Mahershala Ali's character is a colonel. national guard, which means he served in the army for approximately 15-17 years. But despite this, only his rank and crossed guns are marked on his uniform field artillery. There should also be badges with his name and department. Also missing are any qualifying badges, including the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Advanced Infantryman Badge.

As John Glenn prepares to fly, he appears in the "white room" without a helmet and asks for updated calculations. During the Mercury space program, astronauts were put on a space suit and helmet once in Hangar 14, then the suit was checked for leaks, and after that the astronaut did not remove the helmet and in the “white room” he had to wear it.

During the launch of the ship with John Glenn, there is talk about the propulsion engine being cut off, while footage of the launch engines being disconnected is shown.

In one scene, Mary Jackson says that the judge graduated from George Mason University, but this university began operating only in 1965. Judging by his accent, the judge is from eastern Virginia and is more likely to have attended such educational establishments like the University of Virginia or the College of William and Mary.

In the middle of the film, a reporter on television talks about how this is an important historical moment for Cape Canaveral and in the original version of the film he says the phrase "Freedom 7 will be launched into space at an altitude of about 116 miles an hour" ( Spaceship Freedom 7 will rise into space at an altitude of about 116 miles per hour). Obviously the actor made a mistake and it was only about height, and did not mean speed.

During the church scene, Colonel Jim Johnson is wearing a private's cap. Since he is a field officer, his cap should look different, with a gold chinstrap and other distinctive features.

When the IBM computer is delivered, it turns out that it won't fit through the door. Then the workers begin to break down the walls, while the computer stands nearby in the corridor. In fact, no one would knock down the walls next to a new computer, since the dust from the plaster would render it unusable.

You can see from the position of the gear lever that Dorothy is actually standing when she is shown driving her 1957 Chevrolet. And in some shots, when she is driving at full speed, the lever is in the second gear position.

In Virginia, cars always had license plates on both the front and back. In the film, the heroines have license plates only on the back.

On the back of the IBM 7090 computer you can see a 110V outlet. The presence of this socket indicates that the computer was probably taken from the Museum computer history, where it was added to power the displays.

Katherine Johnson is a brilliant NASA mathematical genius who has worked on the space program since its early days, starting in the 1950s. Many of NASA's early missions were made possible only by Johnson's fearless, unparalleled calculations.

Katherine still lives in Hampton, Virginia, where she will celebrate her 98th birthday later this month. Let's find out true story her incredible life.

Family atmosphere

Johnson has said more than once in interviews that she loved to count as a child. Her father set a premium for education and insisted that all four children in the family go to college, working long hours to pay for it. Johnson says that family atmosphere was critical to her success. She was always surrounded by people who wanted to learn something. And she also liked to study.

Studies

Katherine graduated high school at 14 and college at 18. Her high school principal planted the first seeds for her future career in space - he walked her home after school and showed her the constellations in the sky. Already in college, a teacher who was a family friend and knew the girl’s abilities in mathematics, invited Katherine to study in her class. She was later mentored by Dr. William Shiflin Claytor, who encouraged her to try becoming a research mathematician. He began teaching classes that he knew Katherine needed to succeed, including one where Katherine was the only student. Throughout her education, she was able to achieve success because she loved to ask questions, even when teachers tried to ignore her.

After graduating, Johnson began teaching mathematics and then got married and had children. She returned to teaching when her husband fell ill. A few years later he died of cancer, and in 1959 she remarried. But let's get back to science.

Beginning of cooperation with NASA

Johnson began working with NASA in 1963. At that time, the organization was called the National Aeronautics Advisory Committee, since there was no space program yet. Johnson happened to work at the Langley Research Center in Virginia. It was an aircraft research center and can be called the predecessor to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

At the time, the agency hired talented mathematicians to do the calculations and set in motion the work of more prestigious engineers. Johnson worked mostly by hand, filling out large spreadsheets with complex calculations.
Her first task was to process data from black boxes from crashed planes. “We had a mission and we worked to realize it. It was very important to us to do the job right,” she said in a 2011 interview.

The reason she started working on rockets was her endless curiosity and talent. She was accepted into the men's team to work on research flights on a temporary basis. However, Johnson was so good at it that they decided not to send her back.

As an exception

When was it launched? space program, Johnson just started working with the guys, and then they had to undergo instructions. Katherine also asked permission to go. And although women were usually not allowed to attend such meetings, an exception was made for her.

Johnson had some experience with computers before joining NASA, so she was prepared to use technology. At the time, NASA could not rely entirely on electronic calculators, particularly when life-and-death calculations were needed as they began building the space program. Before Johnson was trusted, she demonstrated her talent with technology, as well as the accuracy of manual data verification.

Features of work

During World War II, NASA and the rest of the defense industry were forced to hire African Americans, so black and white female mathematicians emerged as separate groups within the agency. Johnson says her team was the best.
Male engineers preferred to work with black female mathematicians because they believed their abilities were better than white ones. For one thing, they were all in college, Johnson says, while few black girls had that opportunity.

Although women with unique mathematical abilities were not given the same respect as male engineers at the time, this never bothered Johnson. “Girls can do everything that men can do.
But sometimes they are much more imaginative than the stronger sex, Johnson said in a 2011 interview. - Men don't pay attention to small details. They are not interested in how you do your job. The main thing is to provide them with the necessary information in a timely manner.”
Johnson worked closely with Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, who were extraordinary scientists in their field.

Dorothy Vaughan was a mathematician and head of the Computing Unit for ten years. Later she became a programmer. As for Johnson, her work has underpinned many of NASA's most important projects.

Space programs

In 1961, based on Johnson's work, Alan Shepard was able to go into space and became the first American to do so. Johnson calculated the trajectory of his capsule from launch to landing. If she had been wrong, at best NASA would not have known where to pick it up.

Already at an early stage, when NASA began planning to lower the capsule into certain place, it was necessary to calculate when to start this mission. Johnson volunteered to do these calculations. She was told where it was supposed to land on Earth, and she was able to determine where the mission was supposed to begin. Similar calculations have been made strong point Johnson.

At that time, the Mercury mission was in development, during which John Glen would become the first person to orbit the Earth. NASA had already started using electronic calculators, but everyone was still suspicious of new technology. So Glen insisted that Jones check all the calculations made by the calculator. “If she says the calculations are correct, I will accept them,” he told the agency.

Apollo mission

Johnson also used her unusual talent to calculate the lunar landing of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. “Everyone was concerned about whether the astronauts would be able to get there,” Johnson said in an interview. “And everyone was also concerned about their return.”

There were an incredible number of factors to consider: the rotation of the Earth, the position of the satellite, the time when the astronauts would reach the Moon, when they would be able to land on it. It was all very confusing, but possible. The mission went according to plan.

She did the calculations not only to make sure everything was going according to plan. When something went wrong in a mission, Johnson also intervened. In 1970, Apollo 13, which was sent to the Moon, was damaged by explosions of two oxygen tanks.
Johnson was one of the mathematicians who helped calculate safe way back to Earth. This work became the basis of a system that requires only one observation of a star that matches an onboard star chart for astronauts to determine the exact location.

Resignation

Johnson retired in 1986, but her enormous contributions to the space program have only come to public attention in the last few years. She was the first to recognize that science is a collaborative enterprise. “We have always worked as a team and never thought of it as an individual achievement,” she said in an interview.

Last year, President Obama presented Johnson with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the most prestigious award available to civilians.

Throughout most of human history, women have been discouraged, dissuaded, and even prohibited from engaging in scientific activities, and especially mathematics. However, some stubbornly continued to engage in self-education in defiance of tradition.

The world-changing achievements of these 15 famous women mathematicians gave us cleaner and more efficient hospitals, statistical graphics, the basics of computer programming, and preparations for the first space flight.

Hypatia of Alexandria was the first woman we know of to teach mathematics. Her father Theon of Alexandria was a famous mathematician in Alexandria, known for his commentaries on the works of Euclid and Ptolemy. Theon first taught mathematics and astronomy to his daughter himself, and then sent her to Athens to study the works of Plato and Aristotle. Hypatia collaborated with her father, writing her own commentaries and giving lectures on mathematics, astronomy and philosophy.

Emilie du Chatelet (1706-1749)

Emilie du Chatelet was born in Paris. The mother thought that her daughter’s interest in mathematics was indecent, but the father supported his daughter’s love for science. The girl initially used her math skills and talents to play cards for money, which she then spent on buying math books and laboratory equipment.

Her husband traveled frequently, which gave Emily plenty of time to study mathematics and write scientific articles(and also an affair with Voltaire). From 1745 until her death, du Châtelet worked on translating the works of Isaac Newton. She even added her own comments to them.

Sophie Germain (1776-1831)

She was only 13 when she developed an active interest in mathematics; The French Revolution can be blamed for this. With fighting raging around her home, Germaine was unable to explore the streets of Paris; instead, she explored her father's library, studying Latin and Greek on her own, as well as reading respected mathematical works.

Since educational opportunities for women were limited, Germaine secretly studied at the Ecole Polytechnique using the name of a registered student. This worked until teachers noticed an inexplicable improvement in the student's math skills.

Germaine is best known for her work on Fermat's Last Theorem, which was believed at the time to be one of the most difficult problems in mathematics.

Mary Somerville (1780-1872)

When Mary Somerville encountered an algebraic symbol in a random riddle at age 16, she began to rave about mathematics and began studying it on her own. Her parents were terribly worried about their daughter’s inclinations, because at that time there was a popular theory that studying complex subjects could harm mental health women. But Somerville continued to study.

She corresponded with William Wallace, lecturer in mathematics at the University of Edinburgh, and solved mathematical problems in various competitions, winning a silver prize in 1811. Her translation and commentary on Astronomical Mechanics made her an honorary fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852)

Lovelace was born during the short marriage of the poet George Gordon Byron and Annabella Wentworth. Her mother did not want the girl to grow up to be a poet like her father, and encouraged her interest in mathematics and music. IN adolescence Ada began corresponding with Charles Babbage, a mathematics teacher at Cambridge. At that time Babbage was working on his ideas for creating computer, the predecessor of the computer.

Ada Lovelace's notes and advice include an algorithm for calculating the sequence of numbers that forms the basis for the work modern computer. It was the first algorithm created exclusively for a machine. That is why Lovelace is considered to be the world's first programmer.

Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)

Florence Nightingale is best known as a nurse and social reformer, but her lesser-known contributions to science continue to save lives. Trying to study and improve the survival rates of patients in hospitals and military hospitals, Nightingale became a statistician.

The numbers and readings she collected demonstrated that lack of sanitation was the root cause high level mortality. Appropriate measures were taken and hospitals became safer.

Florence Nightingale also designed charts that presented collected statistics in a simple and accessible way. The work of Florence Nightingale helped to define the area of possible use of applied statistics.

Mary Cartwright (1900-1998)

She was the first woman to receive the Sylvester Medal for mathematical research and was the first woman to become President of the London Mathematical Society.

In 1919, she was one of five women studying mathematics at Oxford University. Cartwright later received a doctorate in philosophy and published her research in the Journal of Mathematics.

Dorothy Johnson Vaughn (1910-2008)

The possibility of space flight was studied at NASA by a group of mathematically gifted women called “computers in skirts.” Dorothy Johnson Vaughn was one of them.

After working as a mathematics teacher, Vaughn took a job at NASA in 1943. In 1949, she was promoted to head a special group working in the field of computer computing. This group consisted entirely of black women - outstanding mathematicians.

Marjorie Lee Brown (1914-1979)

She became one of the first black women to receive the title of Doctor of Philosophy and Mathematics. On the way to the title respected teacher and an outstanding mathematician, Brown more than once overcame the racial and sexual discrimination of the 20th century.

Brown taught mathematics at North Carolina College, where she was appointed dean of the mathematics department in 1951. Thanks in part to her work, the college became the home of the National Science Foundation Institute for Secondary Mathematics Education.

Julia Robinson (1919-1985)

Robinson graduated with honors from high school and attended Berkeley, where she married an assistant professor named Raphael Robinson.

Because of her illness, she was unable to have children, and she devoted her life to mathematics, receiving her doctorate in 1948. In 1975, Robinson became the first woman mathematician elected to the National Academy of Sciences. She also became the first female president of the American Mathematical Society.

Katherine Johnson (born 1918)

When Katherine Johnson wanted to study mathematics, she faced a big obstacle. The town of White Sulfur Springs in West Virginia, where she lived, did not allow black students to receive an education beyond the eighth grade. Her father moved his family 120 miles so she could attend high school in another city. Uniquely gifted, Johnson graduated from high school at the age of 14.

She got a job at NASA and became one of the "computers in skirts." Her knowledge of analytical geometry led to her assignment to an all-male team where she helped calculate the trajectory of Alan Shepard's first flight into space.

Mary Jackson (1921-2005)

Mary Jackson graduated with honors from high school and received scientific degree in mathematics and physics from the Hampton Institute. She was hired by NASA as a mathematician and eventually landed a job as an aerospace engineer specializing in aerodynamics.

She worked with NASA flight engineers and received multiple promotions. After three decades at NASA, Jackson reached the rank of chief engineer. She then decided to focus on efforts to advance the careers of women and minorities.

Christine Darden (born 1942)

Christine Darden is a mathematician, analyst and aeronautical engineer with a 25-year career at NASA. Darden researched sonic booms and associated shock waves.

She became one of the first women to graduate as a space engineer at Langley. Darden is the author of a computer program that measures the force of sonic booms. After receiving her PhD in mechanical engineering, she became the leader of the Sonic Boom Group at NASA.

Maryam Mirzakhani (born 1977)

Maryam is a highly respected mathematician. In 2014, she became the first woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal and Prize, and the first recipient from Iran. She specializes in symplectic geometry, a non-Euclidean geometry that used to explore the concepts of space and time. Maryam Mirzakhani currently teaches mathematics at Stanford University.

In the 1960s, the first American astronauts Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn went into space. Margot Lee Shetterly's book, Invisible Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race, and the movie, Hidden Figures, based on the book, pay tribute to the women whose work has remained in the shadows to this day. Behind the scenes of high-profile victories was the work of “human computers” who manually calculated orbital trajectories at the National Aeronautics and Research Administration outer space(NASA).

In 1935, NASA hired 5 women as “computers” for the first time. It was necessary to solve problems and make calculations by hand, without the use of calculators or computers, which at that time seemed . During World War II there was a great demand for aircrafts, at the same time there were not enough men due to the fact that many went to the front. Were needed.

At that time public figure A. Philip Randolph fought to provide jobs for Jews, African Americans, Mexicans, Poles - groups that were discriminated against. In 1941, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 8802, which prohibited discrimination against workers in the defense industry or public service based on their color, race, religion, national origin (although it does not specify gender). And six months later, NASA began hiring African-American women with university degrees.

Human computers were not an innovation at all. In the 19th century, women worked as computers at Harvard University and analyzed images of stars. They made a huge contribution to the history of astronomy - Williamina Fleming participated in the development unified system star designations and cataloged 10,000 stars and other objects. Annie Jump Cannon invented the spectral classification we still use today (from cold to hot bodies: O, B, A, F, G, K, M). Dava Sobel in the book “Glass Universe” she wrote that these women were in no way inferior to men in mental abilities, but their working conditions were worse.

“Computers” worked in the Aeronautics Laboratory named after. Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Virginia. Even though African American women did the same jobs as white women and men, they were located in the segregated West Wing. “These women were meticulous and precise, and they could be paid little,” said a NASA historian Bill Barry. These women often had to retake courses they had already taken in college and were not considered for promotions at NASA.

But over the years, computers became engineers, managers, and with the help of their work it became possible to send John Glenn into orbital space flight in 1962.

The film “Hidden Figures” is based on real events and tells about the fate of three girls Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan - African-American women who worked as computers in the West Wing of Langley.

Katherine Johnson

(born 1918)

Since childhood, Katherine has demonstrated extraordinary mental capacity- At the age of 14 she graduated from high school, and at the age of 18 she received higher education. In 1938, she became one of three African American students (and the only woman) who attended West Virginia State College. In 1953, she began working at NASA, where she subsequently worked for 33 years. Her first big assignment was doing the calculations for Alan Shepard's historic flight in 1961.

Johnson and her team worked to trace Freedom 7's journey in detail from takeoff to landing. It was designed as ballistic flight - in that it was similar to a bullet from a cannon with the capsule rising and falling in a large parabola. Although the flight was considered relatively uncomplicated, it was a huge success and NASA immediately began preparations for America's first orbital mission.

The film mainly focuses on John Glenn's orbital flight, and many of the details, despite the Hollywood script, are historically accurate. For example, Glenn did not entirely trust the computers, and asked Johnson to double-check and confirm the trajectory and entry points: “Let the girl check the numbers. If she says the numbers are okay, I’m ready to fly!”

In 2015, at the age of 97, Katherine received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civil award in USA.

Mary Jackson

(1921-2005)

Double-educated in mathematics and science, Mary worked as a teacher, which at the time was considered a worthy career for many women with higher education. Because most women stayed at home with children or did low-paid jobs. In 1951, she was accepted into NASA. Responsibilities included extracting relevant data from experiments and flight tests.

A few years later, Mary became assistant to the senior aeronautical engineer Kazimierz Czerniecki, who subsequently persuaded her to become an engineer. To qualify, Mary had to take night classes at segregated Hampton High School. She had to petition the city council to gain the right to study on an equal basis with white students. In 1955, Jackson became NASA's first female engineer.

In addition to performing job responsibilities, Katherine supported her colleagues in their pursuit of career success, because sometimes women lacked self-confidence or needed additional education. According to a biography on NASA's website, Mary inspired many to advance in their careers.

Dorothy Vaughan

(1910-2008)

At NASA, Dorothy was a respected mathematician, FORTRAN programmer, and the first African-American woman administrator. Her career began as a mathematics teacher, and in 1943, during World War II, Dorothy joined the Langley Laboratory in a temporary position. But thanks to Executive Order 8802, which prohibited discrimination, Dorothy was lucky enough to remain with NASA, as there was a high demand for specialists who could process information. But women of color worked separately from their white colleagues, and the first leaders were also white women. After Dorothy became a manager, she evaluated career and giving their subordinates salary increases based on merit. Vaughan became a FORTRAN programming expert and contributed to the launch of the Scout satellite launch vehicle while juggling work and raising six children.

According to the writer Margot Lee Shetterly, these women did work that had not been done before by not just a single African-American woman, but generally no one on this planet. Shatterly's father worked for NASA, so it was not unusual for her to see women making major contributions to the development of space exploration. To write the book, Margot Lee interviewed Katherine Johnson and other employees. They were very surprised by the writer's desire to tell this story, because they did not think that anyone would be interested in it. The book and film inspire to do as much as possible more women they were not afraid to follow their dreams and remembered: genius has no race, strength has no gender, courage has no boundaries.

The film tells the story of how, on the eve of the triumph of Soviet competitors, workers in the American space industry feverishly tried to catch up and overtake the Soviets, who were rushing forward and upward. But, as one extremely popular Russian pop singer once sang, something is not right, and it’s not clear what.

This, however, is not at all surprising: taking into account the general intellectual level of the agency’s employees, under the leadership of the fair, but also narrow-minded Al Harrison (Kevin Costner), they cannot be trusted to launch, let alone rockets into space, a tram along a route of two stops. This is especially clearly illustrated by the character of Jim Parsons - Researcher, who mostly sits there looking as if he’s waiting for the usual off-screen laughter, and the rest of the time he’s just dumb or frowning in concentration.

But, as they say, everything changes when they come - three lively black women (Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer) occupying modest technical positions. Only this cheerful, energetic and very, very smart trio can save the unfortunate sharashka from a complete fiasco. They will calculate the required figure with the speed of a calculator, and get along with the complex latest supercomputer (by stealing the necessary textbook from the library - they don’t just give books to black women, even the very, very smart ones who work at NASA), and in general the entire star project that has reached a dead end on their fragile backs will be pulled out.

They, most likely, would have been able to outrun the USSR - but racism, coupled with chauvinism, got in the way. Judge for yourself - what kind of championship in space is it when the only employee in the department who is capable of thinking has to run to the toilet on the other side of town to the sound of peppy music? That's it.

Matching the film's caricature of the very dark theme of segregation in the United States is its climax. It involves the ceremonial destruction of a “racist” sign on the bathroom door, the result of Harrison’s sudden realization that the efficiency of one black employee is higher than the productivity of all his white subordinates combined. And the boss wielding a crowbar at this moment looks - and clearly feels like - Abraham Lincoln, no more and no less. All this is done with such a deadly serious mien that the comic effect is instantly tripled.

The film, as stated, is based on real events, and the disclaimers before the end credits serve as confirmation of this. It is clear that there is no smoke without fire, and the contribution of talented women, but oppressed by an unjust society, to the development of American astronautics is certainly worthy of universal admiration. And the shameful page of history for the United States (which was never completely turned over) undoubtedly requires comprehensive study.

Only the “progressive public”, headlong

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