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FILE - In a Nov. 24, 2015 file photo, Willie Mays, right, applauds NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, after she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
FILE – In a Nov. 24, 2015 file photo, Willie Mays, right, applauds NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, after she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. (AP Photo | Evan Vucci, File)

‘Hidden Figures’ NASA Mathematician Katherine Johnson has Died

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HAMPTON, Va. (AP) — NASA says pioneering black mathematician Katherine Johnson has died.

The West Virginia native worked on NASA’s early space missions and was portrayed in the film “Hidden Figures,” about black female aerospace workers.

In a Monday morning tweet, the space agency said it celebrates her 101 years of life and her legacy of excellence and breaking down racial and social barriers.

Johnson was one of the so-called “computers” who calculated rocket trajectories and earth orbits by hand during NASA’s early years.

Until 1958, Johnson and other black women worked in a racially segregated computing unit at what is now called Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Their work was the focus of the Oscar-nominated 2016 film.