Gladys West

GLADYS WEST:

Gladys West was born in October 27,1930.

MAJOR ACADEMIC EVENT:

She was the valedictorian of her high school graduating class, which got her a full scholarship to Virginia State College
She earned a degree in math in 1952, returned for a master's degree too, and graduated in 1955. She earned another master's degree in 1973 from the University of Oklahoma and got a PhD in public administration and policy affairs from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 2000

MOJOR CONTRIBUTION:

Her major contribution was working on Seasat and Geosat, which lead to her creating an early model of the GPS, which could precisely calculate the orbits of satellites. Because of her making this, the GPS system can make accurate calculations of any place on Earth
Built the Naval Ordinance Research Calculator (NORC) to determine movements of Pluto relative to Neptune
She mathematically modeled the shape of the earth
West inspired many women worldwide and was named one of BBC's 100 women of 2018 for this

AWARDS:

Gladys West won the first Freedom of the Seas Exploration and Innovation Award.