NASA renames headquarters after first African-American female engineer Mary Jackson

To honour the administration’s first African American female engineer, NASA has renamed its Washington headquarters after "hidden figures" Mary Jackson. As per a blog by NASA, Jackson began working at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1951. Being born in 1921 in Hampton, Virginia, Jackson attended the all-Black George P. Phenix Training School where she graduated with honors. Further, she graduated from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in 1942 with a bachelor of science degree in both mathematics and physical sciences.

NASA honours Mary Jackson

Before joining NACA, Jackson did several other jobs. She has worked as a teacher, a receptionist, and a bookkeeper. Also, after two years in West Computing, Jackson was offered a computing position to work in the 4-foot by 4-foot Supersonic Pressure Tunnel. She was also asked to enter a training program that would put her on track to become an engineer. In the year 1958, she became NASA’s first African-American female engineer. During the same year,  she co-authored her first report, “Effects of Nose Angle and Mach Number on Transition on Cones at Supersonic Speeds”. By 1975, she had authored or co-authored 12 NACA and NASA technical publications. Most of them were focussed on the behavior of the boundary layer of air around an airplane.

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Acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk said, “With the official naming of the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters today, we ensure that she is a hidden figure no longer”. He added, “Jackson's story is one of incredible determination. She personified NASA's spirit of persevering against all odds, providing inspiration and advancing science and exploration”.

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Jackson left engineering in 1979 to become NASA Langley’s Federal Women’s Program Manager. Her aim was to increase the hiring and promotion of NASA’s female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. She was also committed to the advancement of her community. During the 1970s, she helped the students in the Hampton King Street Community Center build their own wind tunnel and run experiments. She, along with her husband, took in young professionals in need of guidance. She retired from Langley in 1985. 

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