And, the computers did not face discrimination if they were married. While the age of computers at the NACA may have averaged near 21, Cramer noted there were a surprising number of computers nearer to 30. The majority of computers were college graduates, especially those selected as heads of computer groups. While their salaries were low ($1440 and $1620), they were higher than those paid to secretaries and typists. This knowledge was unique to them.įrom the memo, we also get an idea of the socioeconomic landscape for women in these positions.
The women in these roles knew how to organize computational work and how to do so quickly without making mistakes. Data reduction and analysis were carried out with the help of calculators, slide rules, planimeters, drafting tools, and other instruments. Depending on the application, the data were smoothed, plotted, and interpolated. Computers gathered data by reading pressure values from manometers placed in the wind tunnel. Ceruzzi wrote, “In every case we know of, the women’s work was subordinate to the work of the men for whom they computed.”īut Ceruzzi also noted that the memo makes clear that the work of a computer required skill and judgment. Cramer, the author of the memo, had the notion that some jobs were for women and some were not. The tone of the memo reveals something of the attitude toward sexual division of labor as it existed in 1942, Ceruzzi noted. In the memo, the author wrote, “The engineers admit themselves that the girl computers do their work more rapidly and accurately than they would.” In part, this was because the engineers felt their advanced experience was being wasted on “mere repetitive calculations.” This method of repeated empirical testing required an enormous amount of computational work.Įngineers originally conducted this computational work, but it tended to lead to bottlenecks in progress. The steps were repeated until the performance was optimum for any given parameter. Based on the results one parameter of that design was changed by a small increment and tested again. The data from the test was then reduced and analyzed. In the tunnel, a battery of instruments measured its performance. They then built a scale model and placed that shape in a wind tunnel.
Engineers would begin their work by selecting a trial shape. In the 1930s and 40s Langley researchers primarily concentrated on the analysis of the aerodynamic properties of things like wing sections, propellers, and even whole airplanes. In it, Cramer describes how Curtiss might set up its own computing facility similar to the one he found at Langley. Cramer, a representative from the Curtiss Aircraft Company at LMAL, to R. The memorandum, included below, was found in the files of the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. In an article for the Annals of the History of Computing, curator Paul Ceruzzi examines an astounding document a memorandum dated Apthat outlines the computing facility at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (LMAL), the main research facility of the NACA and where Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson worked. Still, there’s a lot we can learn about their work through primary sources. The work of computers was largely invisible. They were people, primarily women, who reduced or analyzed data using mechanical calculators- we’ve previously explored the role of computers in astronomy. Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson all began their careers at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)-which later became NASA-working as “computers.” Computers were not what we think of them today.
The story sheds light on the significant contributions of the three women- Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson-but also the broader impact that women had behind the scenes at NASA.
The breakout movie Hidden Figures tells the story of three African American women who worked as mathematicians at NASA.