The Human Computer: Selected Works by Katherine Johnson

by Katherine Johnson

The history of the space race and the conquest of the Moon is studded with numerous milestones achieved thanks to thousands of researchers, technicians, engineers, mathematicians and programmers. Many of the people involved worked in the shadows, including a group of mathematicians and programmers known as “human computers”. Katherine Johnson (born Coleman; August 26, 1918 - February 24, 2020) led a mathematical team whose work ushered NASA’s pioneering feats since the early 1950s, culminating in the landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the Moon in 1969. She was also the first woman to sign NASA science papers, a prerogative reserved exclusively for men until then. Her work in the west wing of the Langley Research Center at the helm of the so-called “colored computers”, a group of brilliant African-American mathematicians and programmers, was celebrated in the famous 2016 film “Hidden Figures”. In this volume we want to explain to the public the scientific content of six scientific articles written by Johnson, accompanying the comments with the scientist’s original articles, rewritten and improved. The landing on the Moon, the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew, the successful orbital launch of John Glenn, are just some of the great achievements of Katherine Johnson and the many women who worked behind the scenes of the space race.

379 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2022

About the author

Tasmanian writer Katherine Johnson is the author of four novels: Pescador's Wake (Fourth Estate 2009), The Better Son (Ventura Press 2016), Matryoshka (Ventura Press 2018) and Paris Savages (Ventura Press 2019, Allison and Busby UK 2020, Jimenez Edizioni Italy 2021 - published under the title Selvaggi).

Paris Savages, is based on the true story of three Aboriginal (Badtjala) people from Fraser Island, Queensland, who were transported to Europe in 1882 as ethnographic curiosities. It was shortlisted in the ABIA Awards 2020 and was The Times Historical Fiction Book of the Month (July 2020).

The Better Son tells the story of a family yearning for love but layered with secrets, and the price of a lie. Set in northern Tasmania’s cave country, The Better Son won the University of Tasmania Prize in 2013 (Tasmanian Literary Awards), the People's Choice Award (Tasmanian Literary Awards 2013), as well as a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development in 2013. The Better Son was Longlisted for the Australian Indie Book Awards and The Tasmania Book Prize (Premier’s Literary Awards).

Matryoshka is set against the beautiful backdrop of Tasmania and tells the story of secrets, refuge, and loves lost and found.

Pescador's Wake, set on the Southern Ocean and in Tasmania and Uruguay, won a HarperCollins Varuna Award for Manuscript Development in 2007.

Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Katherine Johnson now lives in Tasmania where she also works as a science journalist. Her non-fiction articles have been published in Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald), Ecos, The Conversation, Australasian Science, Island and Forty South.

Katherine Johnson has a Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), an honours degree in marine science and a PhD in creative writing. She is an Adjunct Researcher at the University of Tasmania, where she has taught creative writing.