Mary Jackson (née Winston; April 9, 1921 – February 11, 2005) was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer. She worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. She also worked for the organization that was there before NASA was founded in 1958. In 1951, she started at National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). At first, she was a computer, a person doing advanced scientific calculations. She took advanced engineering classes and, in 1958, became NASA's first black female engineer. Today, she is known as an important figure in what is known as the Space Race. view more...