The Global Positioning System (GPS) is used by people all over the world. The technology tracks your location and helps people to find their way around wherever they are on the planet. Gladys West is an American mathematician who worked at a US Navy base. She contributed to the development of GPS, but her achievements were only officially recognised in 2018. She is now 93, but we were lucky to be able to speak to West's daughter, Carolyn Oglesby, about her mum's incredible story.
Country girl West was born in 1930 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, US. Her parents owned a small farm, where she spent her time helping to harvest crops. Carolyn told Science+Nature, “When [West] was working on the farm, she knew that she wanted to do something different. She knew that education was the path to that.” Although it was expensive, West wanted to go to college so, when her teacher revealed that the top two students in her year could win a scholarship (money to help pay for further studies), West worked as hard as she could to finish top of her class.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1642519507/1726203999/articles/kH_e-qxel1726211421371/4222061662.jpg]
Don’t stop me now West attended Virginia State College and studied mathematics. Most of the people on her course were men, but she tried not to let that bother her. West told The Guardian newspaper, “I knew deep in my heart that nothing was getting in my way.” After college, she became a teacher to save money so that she could continue her own studies and gain another qualification.
Blazing a trail In 1956, West got a job at a US naval base in Dahlgren, Virginia. Her work involved programming and coding for computers, which the navy had only just started to use.
At this time, computers were much larger than they are now, and looked very different. When West started her job, she was one of only four black employees working at the base. She was sometimes treated differently to her white colleagues.
Carolyn explained how West coped, “She faced her barriers by showing them that she belonged, showing them that she could do the work and just saying, ‘yes, I am equal and I belong here.’”
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1642519507/1726203999/articles/kH_e-qxel1726211421371/4224217426.jpg]
Satellite systems After working at the navy base for 22 years, West was named project manager for something called Seasat. This was a satellite designed to collect information about the oceans, such as the temperature of the water and the height of the waves. Together with a...
Country girl West was born in 1930 in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, US. Her parents owned a small farm, where she spent her time helping to harvest crops. Carolyn told Science+Nature, “When [West] was working on the farm, she knew that she wanted to do something different. She knew that education was the path to that.” Although it was expensive, West wanted to go to college so, when her teacher revealed that the top two students in her year could win a scholarship (money to help pay for further studies), West worked as hard as she could to finish top of her class.
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1642519507/1726203999/articles/kH_e-qxel1726211421371/4222061662.jpg]
Don’t stop me now West attended Virginia State College and studied mathematics. Most of the people on her course were men, but she tried not to let that bother her. West told The Guardian newspaper, “I knew deep in my heart that nothing was getting in my way.” After college, she became a teacher to save money so that she could continue her own studies and gain another qualification.
Blazing a trail In 1956, West got a job at a US naval base in Dahlgren, Virginia. Her work involved programming and coding for computers, which the navy had only just started to use.
At this time, computers were much larger than they are now, and looked very different. When West started her job, she was one of only four black employees working at the base. She was sometimes treated differently to her white colleagues.
Carolyn explained how West coped, “She faced her barriers by showing them that she belonged, showing them that she could do the work and just saying, ‘yes, I am equal and I belong here.’”
image [https://cdn.magzter.com/1642519507/1726203999/articles/kH_e-qxel1726211421371/4224217426.jpg]
Satellite systems After working at the navy base for 22 years, West was named project manager for something called Seasat. This was a satellite designed to collect information about the oceans, such as the temperature of the water and the height of the waves. Together with a...
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The Week Junior Science+nature Uk (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 79