Annie Easley was a mathematician, computer programmer, and rocket scientist. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1933. She majored in pharmaceuticals at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. After graduating from college, she worked as a human-computer and math technician for National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) where she was one of only four African-American staff. Soon after she pursued a mathematics degree at Cleveland State University and dealt with discrimination based on her race and gender. While at CSU, male colleagues’ degrees were funded, but Easley had to pay her own way. NASA sponsored specialized courses after she earned her degree. In addition, her face was cut out of a picture at an open house while her co-workers were put on display. She learned computer programming and how to write code with languages like SOAP and FORTRAN. She passed away in 2011. Her major accomplishments include
- determining the life use of storage batteries which led the creation of batteries used in hybrid vehicles
- helping develop software Centaur for NASA
- test prepping African-Americans for the literacy test required for them to vote in 1954
- becoming an Equal Employment Opportunity counselor, where she informed supervisors of workplace discrimination based on race, gender, and age.
Further Reading:
- The ACM-Mills Conference on Pioneering Women in Computing. Mills College, Oakland, California. May 7, 2000
- Black Contributors to Science and Energy Technology. US Department of Energy (Washington, D.C.: Office of Public Affairs), 1979, p.19. DOE/OPA-0035 (79).
- "Easley, Annie J.: American Computer Scientist" in World of Computer Science. Brigham Narin, Ed. (Detroit, Michigan: Gales Group), 2002. p.210.
- In Black and White: A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles and Books Concerning More than 15,000 Black Individuals and Groups. 3rd edition Mary Mace Spradling, ed. (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co.), 1980. p.289.
- Lee, Nicole. “Annie Easley Helped Make Modern Spaceflight Possible.” Engadget, 13 Feb. 2015, www.engadget.com/2015-02-13-annie-easley.html.
- Williams, Talithia. Power in Numbers: the Rebel Women of Mathematics. Race Point Publishing, 2018.
