"Pioneering mathematician Dr. Gladys West has passed away at the age of 95. Her name may not be familiar to you, but her contributions certainly are; West's work laid the foundation for the global positioning system. As you likely know from experience, GPS is now an essential component of industries ranging from aviation and emergency response, as well as ensuring that you get to that dinner date or job interview on time."
"In 1956, West was hired at what is now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA. Her focus during the 1970s and 1980s was creating accurate models of the Earth's shape based on satellite data, a complex task requiring the type of mathematical gymnastics that would make the average person dizzy. Those models later became the backbone for GPS."
Gladys West was a mathematician born in 1930 in Virginia who earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Virginia State College. She joined the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA in 1956 and worked there for 42 years, retiring in 1998. During the 1970s and 1980s she developed accurate models of the Earth's shape using satellite data. Those models became the backbone of the global positioning system. Her work went largely unrecognized for decades. In 2018 members of Alpha Kappa Alpha helped secure belated recognition, including induction into the US Air Force Space and Missiles Pioneers Hall of Fame and a HBCU Female Alumna of the Year honor. A 2020 interview noted she sometimes preferred paper maps.
Read at Engadget
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