Dear Reader,
Many readers pointed out that the Surfing the Calendar section of this weekly newsletter is not displaying correctly. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ve solved it yet. If the calendar still isn’t displaying (at the bottom of today’s newsletter), you can always see the Surfing the Calendar online at https://www.surfnetkids.com/calendar/, or even read this newsletter online at https://www.surfnetkids.com/newsletters/.
See ya on the Net,
Barbara J. Feldman
“Surfing the Net with Kids”
https://www.surfnetkids.com
Katherine Johnson
https://www.surfnetkids.com/resources/katherine-johnson/
Katherine Johnson Printable(** for Premium Members only)
https://www.surfnetkids.com/printables/files/printables-club/katherine-johnson.pdf
Katherine Johnson (born August 25, 1918) is an African-American physicist and mathematician who worked on calculating trajectories for NASA. Her work was critical to the success of Project Mercury, the Apollo missions, and the Space Shuttle, but her story wasn’t well known until recently. Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom award on November 24, 2015, and was the subject of the 2016 book and movie, “Hidden Figures”.
Biography: Katherine G. Johnson
“A bright child with a gift for numbers, she [Johnson] breezed through her classes and completed the eighth grade by age 10. Although her town didn’t offer classes for African Americans after that point, her father, Joshua, drove the family 120 miles to Institute, West Virginia, where they lived while she attended high school.” Click on Mathematician (in the Quick Facts sidebar) to learn about some of the other women computers of NASA.
History: Human Computers: The Women of NASA
“Comprising an elite team of mathematicians, engineers and scientists, these women were tasked with turning numbers into meaningful data at what would later become NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Langley Research Center.” Johnson is just one of seven female pioneers highlighted in this news article.
MAKERS: Women Behind the "Hidden Figures" Movie
MAKERS is a video “storytelling platform for the trailblazing women of today and tomorrow” from AOL. It features more than 4500 videos and interviews with 400 heroines. “In this MAKERS interview, Johnson talks about her early affinity for mathematics, a college professor who noticed her gift and pushed her to pursue advanced math courses and how she eventually became a NASA mathematician who calculated, among many other computations, the trajectory for the space flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space; John Glenn, the first American to orbit earth; and Apollo 11, the first human mission to the moon.”
… Click to continue to Katherine Johnson
Printables Club Members Also Get …
Surfnetkids Printables Club Members also get the following printables to use in the classroom, the computer lab, the school library, or to send home with students:
Katherine Johnson Printable
Katherine Johnson Wikipedia Printable
Project Mercury Printable
Space Shuttle Printable
*** Are you curious? Get your own ten-day trial membership:
https://www.surfnetkids.com/printables/join/
Related Games
Quote of the Week
“No man knows what he can do until he tries.” ~~ Carter G. Woodson ~~ (December 19, 1875 – April 3, 1950) American historian known as Father of Black History. There are more quotes that inspire achievement at Lightafire.com.
Surfing the Calendar
Wild Bird Feeding Month February
American Heart Month February
Children’s Dental Health Month February
Pluto Discovered Feb 18, 1930
National Engineers Week Feb 19-25, 2017
Ansel Adams’ Birthday Feb 20, 1902
Presidents’ Day Feb 20, 2017
First American Orbits the Earth Feb 20, 1962
First Steam Train Travels 10 Miles Feb 21, 1804
George Washington’s Birthday Feb 22, 1732
Steve Irwin’s Birthday Feb 22, 1962
Siege of the Alamo Begins Feb 23, 1836
Scientists Announce Dolly, Cloned From an Adult Sheep Feb 23, 1997
Wilhelm Grimm’s Birthday (one of the Grimm Brothers) Feb 24, 1786
George Harrison’s Birthday Feb 25, 1943
Tell a Fairy Tale Day Feb 26, 2017
First U.S. Chartered Passenger Railroad Service Feb 28, 1827
Jim Watson and Francis Crick Discover the DNA Double Helix Feb 28, 1953