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Dr. gladys west12/27/2022 ![]() ![]() In a continuation of her previous work, West helped create GEOSAT, a satellite programmed to create computer models of Earth’s surface. She later became project manager of Seasat, the first satellite that could remotely sense oceans using oceanographic data. “I started to think to myself that I’ll be a role model as the black me … to be the best I can be, doing my work and getting recognition for my work,” she noted.Īs she became more acclimated with her work, West began analyzing data from satellites, putting together altimeter models of the Earth’s shape. She often wrestled with the fact that she was a Black woman in this field, but used it to fuel and drive her to succeed. West was a programmer in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division for large-scale computers and a project manager for data-processing systems used in satellite data analysis. Navigating a New CareerĪfter earning her degrees, in 1956 West became just the second Black woman to ever be hired at the then-Naval Proving Ground (now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center), where she worked as a mathematician. Two years later, she returned to VSU and completed a master’s degree in mathematics. Afterwards, she became a teacher to save money for graduate school. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in 1952. “I knew deep in my heart that nothing was getting in my way,” West said during a 2020 interview with The Guardian. Upon her enrollment to VSU, she decided to major in mathematics, a predominantly male major. As a result, she earned a full-ride scholarship to an HBCU, Virginia State College (now University). However, her academic achievement proved critical as she graduated as valedictorian of her high school class. Understanding the limited means that would result from a sharecropper’s wage, West began taking babysitting jobs to help her make and save some additional money. She decided that education would be her way out, but faced a financial challenge. ![]() After spending much of her childhood working on her family’s farm, she realized that she didn’t want to work in fields or factories all her life the way most of her relatives did. Growing up in the rural south, she was raised in a farming family in a community of sharecroppers. West was born Gladys Mae Brown in 1930 in Sutherland, Virginia. It was her mathematical modeling and calculations that ultimately led to the implementation of GPS in our everyday lives. It was a team effort throughout the years, but one woman in particular was critical to the invention as we know it today: Gladys West. ![]() However, what many of us may not know are the people behind the valuable invention. Whether it’s to get from one place to another, to determine one’s position, to create a map or a variety of other uses, GPS has played a role in our lives in one way or another. Just about all of us have used a global positioning system (GPS) or use it on a regular basis. ![]()
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