"From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, using complex algorithms to account for variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces that distort Earth's shape, she programmed an IBM 7030 'Stretch' computer to deliver increasingly refined calculations for an extremely accurate geodetic Earth model, a geoid, optimized for what ultimately became the Global Positioning System (GPS) orbit," according to an Air Force press release from her induction into the Space and Missiles Pioneers Hall of Fame.ġ0 trailblazing women of Black history you should knowįrom Gwendolyn Brooks to Bessie Coleman, here's a look at 10 Black women who made major strides throughout U.S. She also served as the project manager for Seasat, which was the first satellite to carry out remote sensing of Earth's oceans. In West's work as a computer programmer, she specialized in large-scale computer systems and data-processing systems for the analysis of information obtained from satellites.
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At the time, the Navy was bringing in computers, and West programmed the massive machines - much like Dorothy Vaughan, who was played by Octavia Spencer in the movie " Hidden Figures," did for NASA. After graduating from Virginia State College, a historically Black college, with a bachelor's and a master's degree, West became the second Black woman ever hired - in 1956 - at the Naval Proving Ground in Virginia, where she worked as a mathematician.
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