UJ remembers NASA icon Katherine Johnson

​The University community is saddened after learning about the passing of NASA scientist and UJ-honorary doctorate recipient Dr Katherine Johnson on 24th of February 2020 at the age of 101.

Dr Johnson co-authored twenty-six scientific papers, has been the recipient of NASA’s Lunar Spacecraft and Operation’s Group Achievement Award and NASA’s Apollo Group Achievement Award. On 24 November 2015, she received the United States’ highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Barack H. Obama.On April 2019, UJ bestowed an Honorary Doctoral Degree on Dr Johnson in recognition of her pioneering role and body of work at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Says Professor Debra Meyer, the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science at UJ: Dr Katherine Johnson’s, life’s work was immortalised in the movie Hidden Figures in 2016 and she will forever be remembered as the pioneer mathematician who calculated the trajectories that allowed Apollo II to not only land on the moon in 1969 but also, and perhaps most importantly, let it return to earth. We consider it an honour to have had the opportunity to join the ranks of those individuals and organisations who formally recognised Dr Johnson’s contributions to science and society.