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Mary Jackson (1921–2005) was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and its successor, NASA. She worked at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, for most of her career. She started as a human computer at the segregated West Area Computing division in 1951. In 1958, after taking engineering classes, she became NASA's first black female engineer. Jackson had earned the most senior engineering title available by 1979 and realized she could not earn further promotions without becoming a supervisor. She accepted a demotion to become a manager of both NASA's federal women's program and the affirmative action program. Her work sought to influence the career paths of women in science, engineering, and mathematics positions at NASA. Jackson is one of the leading characters in the 2016 book Hidden Figures and one of the three protagonists in the book's film adaptation, released the same year. This NASA photograph of Jackson was taken in 1979. Photograph credit: NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden
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