Annie J. Easley(1933- 2011)
Annie Easley was an African America mathematician, rocket scientist, and computer scientist,who worked at the Lewis Research Centre of NASA and it’s predecessor, NACA. She developed technologies that led to hybrid vehicles and and worked on software which has made modern spaceflight possible.
She was born on 23rd April 1933 to Bud McCrory and Willie Sims,in Birmingham, Alabama. She was raised by her single mother. At a time when schools were racially segregated, Easley overcame those barriers and graduated her parochial high school with top marks and was the valedictorian. She attended Xavier University at New Orleans, where she studied Pharmacy for two years. In 1954, she returned to Birmingham, where African Americans were required to pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax to vote. She didn’t have to give the test as her application mentioned her university. She then helped others prepare for the test. In 1964, an amendment outlawed the tax in Federal Elections, but only in 1965 was the test abolished. She married and moved to Cleveland again, but the university has ended it’s pharmacy program.
In 1955, she applied for a job at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics(NACA). She was hired and began working as a Mathematician and Computer Engineer in the Lewis Flight Propulsion Lab. She continued her education and subsequently received her Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1977. She continued her education through specialization courses offered by NASA.
She developed and implemented code that studied alternative energy, analyzing solar and wind technology. She also worked on identifying energy-conversion systems and determined the life use of storage batteries. This greatly helped the development of batteries in hybrid vehicles. Easley’s work on the Centaur(a high-energy booster rocket) proved to be the most powerful upper stage in the US space program. It has been used to launch spacecrafts like Voyager, Pioneer, Viking etc. and even several communication and weather satellites.
“When people have their biases and prejudices, yes, I am aware. My head is not in the sand. But my thing is, if I can’t work with you, I will work around you. I was not about to be discouraged that I’d walk away. That may be a solution for some people, but it’s not mine.”
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