nasa awards medal to "hidden women" with great fanfare
2024-09-20
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according to abc on the 19th, at an awards ceremony held on capitol hill on wednesday, several black female mathematicians and aerospace engineers were awarded the congressional gold medal in recognition of their contributions to the us aerospace field during the 20th century space race.
three of nasa’s highest civilian honors were bestowed on late women known as nasa’s “hidden figures” — mary w. jackson, nasa’s first black female engineer, and mathematicians katherine johnson and dorothy vaughan, who paved the way for the first american astronaut to successfully orbit the earth.
the award ceremony held on the 18th of this month was five years after the passage of the hidden figures congressional gold medal act in 2019. u.s. house speaker mike johnson said at the ceremony: "we have waited too long for this moment. it happened a long time ago. at that time, the country was divided by skin color and gender. but these women dared to step into fields that were not welcome before, laying the foundation for our country's rocket launches, astronauts to explore space and the country's rise." he also said: "although they are always called 'hidden figures', we should not only regard these women as supporting roles in the story of american space exploration. because these female engineers and mathematicians are the ones who actually write the story." according to reports, the movie "hidden figures" released in 2016 is based on these three black women, depicting their legendary story of successfully helping an astronaut escape danger against the backdrop of the us-soviet space race. the film is adapted from shetterly's novel of the same name published in 2016 and was nominated for the oscar for "best picture".
nasa administrator bill nelson also spoke at the ceremony, paying tribute to the women. he said the achievements of the three women were "even more impressive" given the challenges they faced, such as racism and sexism. "awarding them the congressional gold medal honors their lives and work and ensures that they continue to inspire americans in the future," nelson said.
nasa said that in addition to the above three women, the congressional gold medal also included 82-year-old aerospace engineer christine darden, who is internationally renowned for her research on supersonic aircraft noise, especially sonic boom reduction. she is also the first black woman appointed as a senior administrator at nasa's langley research center.
it is reported that the families of the four award-winning women attended the ceremony and accepted this hard-earned honor on behalf of the medal winners.
it is worth noting that there is also a fifth medal on the scene, which was awarded to all women who worked as human computers, mathematicians and engineers at nasa and its predecessor, the national advisory committee for aeronautics, between the 1930s and 1970s. (zhou yang)▲
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