Who doesn’t rely on GPS these days? Three little letters that represent a very complex series of mathematical calculations. The foundation for today’s Global Positioning System was created by a pioneering Black mathematician, Dr. Gladys West. We are sharing the story of Dr. West not just because she’s a badass U.S. Woman in STEM. Dr. West was inducted into the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Hall of Fame in 2018, because she did her pioneering GPS work while serving as a mathematician at the U.S. Naval Weapons Lab. She is one of only TWO women inducted into the SMPHF since it was founded in 1990. This, despite what we now know to be hundreds of women engineers, mathematicians and “computers” who powered much of NASA and NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics) work from the 1930s to the 1070s. So, introducing Dr. Gladys West, mathematician and mother of GPS. Dr. Gladys B. West was born in Sutherland, Virginia, in 1930. After graduating at the t...
In 2022, Marian Croak and the late ophthalmologist Dr. Patricia Bath were inducted into the National Inventors of Hall of Fame. Almost 50 years after the founding of the NIHF, they were the first Black women to receive this honor. Almost 50 years. Introducing Marian Croak and Patricia Bath. Engineer Marian Croak has worked on advancing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies, converting voice data into digital signals that can be easily transmitted over the internet rather than using traditional phone lines. Her work has furthered the capabilities of audio and video conferencing, making it a practical reality in today’s world. In 1982, Croak began her career at Bell Labs (later AT&T) with a position in the Human Factors research division, looking at how technology could be used to positively impact people’s lives. She subsequently went on to work on network engineering, where she contemplated the potential of digital telecommunications. Rather than ...