; (B) was promoted to be the head of the West Area Computing unit, becoming NACA’s first African-American supervisor, a position that she held for 9 years; and (C) became an expert programmer in FORTRAN as a member of NASA’s Analysis and Computation Division. (13) Dorothy Vaughan retired from NASA in 1971 and died on November 10, 2008. (14) Mary Jackson was born on April 9, 1921, in Hampton, Virginia. (15) Jackson started her career at NACA in 1951, working as a computer as a member of the West Area Computing unit. (16) After petitioning the City of Hampton to allow her to take graduate-level courses in math and physics at night at the all-White Hampton High School, Jackson was able to complete the required training to become an engineer, making her NASA’s first female African-American engineer. (17) Jackson— (A) at NACA and NASA— (i) worked in the Theoretical Aerodynamics Branch of the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley, where she analyzed wind tunnel and aircraft flight data; and (ii) published a dozen technical papers throughout her career, focused on the boundary layer of air around airplanes