ALD21: Dr Gladys West, Mathematician

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Dr Gladys West

Dr Gladys West is a mathematician whose models of the shape of the Earth were integral to the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS). 

In 1956, West began work as a computer programmer at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, collecting satellite data and using it to calculate their exact position. She was only the second black woman employed there, and one of only four black employees.

West worked on the data-processings systems used to analyse altimetry data from satellites such as GEOS 3. In 1978, she became the project manager for SEASAT, the first satellite that could remotely sense oceans, and used its data to measure ocean depths. Using an IBM 7030 Stretch computer, she developed complex algorithms to account for variations in gravitational, tidal and other forces that distort the shape of the Earth, also known as the geoid. Her work significantly improved the precision of calculations used to model the geoid. 

In 1986, she published a technical report, Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter, which outlined how to increase the accuracy when estimating geoid heights and vertical deflection, which are important aspects of satellite geodesy, or the use of satellites to measure the dimensions of the Earth. West’s models of the geoid formed the basis of GPS.

In 2000, she finished her PhD in public administration and policy affairs, at the age of 70. In 2021, her contributions to science were recognised by the UK’s Royal Academy of Engineering which awarded her the Prince Philip Medal, their highest individual honour. 

Further reading

ALD21 Podcasts: The Cosmic Savannah, Dr Jacinta Delhaize & Dr Daniel Cunnama

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The Cosmic Savannah, Dr Jacinta Delhaize & Dr Daniel Cunnama

Africa’s beautiful dark skies and vast plains make it an ideal place for cutting-edge astronomy research. Presented by Dr Jacinta Delhaize and Dr Daniel Cunnama, The Cosmic Savannah podcast showcases the world-class astronomy and astrophysics coming from the African continent. Hear about the fascinating people and discoveries coming out of Africa and how they are relevant on the world stage, as well as the indigenous people of South Africa’s relationship with the cosmos, pulsars, what we can learn from thermonuclear explosions on white dwarfs and rising stars of African astronomy. 

Recent episodes include conversations with: 

  • Dr Marisa Geyer, pulsar astronomer and commissioning scientist at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), who explains her research on pulsars and mysterious Fast Radio Bursts;
  • Dr Miriam Nyamai, who studies thermonuclear eruptions on the surface of white dwarf stars; and,
  • Dr Michelle Lochner, senior lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, who is developing new machine learning and artificial intelligence tools to analyse the massive astronomical datasets of next-generation telescopes.

You can follow her work here:

Twitter: @jdelhaize and @cosmicsavannah
Facebook: facebook.com/jdelhaize
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jacinta-delhaize
Website: jacintadelhaize.com

ALD21: Olga González-Sanabria, Chemical Engineer

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Olga González-Sanabria

Olga González-Sanabria is a Puerto Rican chemical engineer who developed the long cycle-life nickel-hydrogen batteries that have been used on the International Space Station, the Hubble telescope and Mars Odyssey.

González-Sanabria worked as the Director of Engineering at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, responsible for engineering design and development, fabrication, systems engineering and integration, and systems analysis.

Originally from Patillas, Puerto Rico, she started her academic career at the University of Puerto Rico. She earned her master’s degree in chemical engineering at the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Over the three decades that she worked for NASA she earned several awards, the most notable being the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. In 2021 she was inducted into the NASA Glenn Research Center Hall of Fame for her lifetime achievements, and was the highest-ranking Hispanic at NASA Glenn. Now retired from NASA after 32 years service, she currently works as a consultant.

You can follow her work here:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/olga-gonzalez-sanabria-7100371a

Further reading

ALD21 Books: Braiding Sweetgrass, Dr Robin Wall Kimmerer

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Dr Robin Wall Kimmerer

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Dr Robin Wall Kimmerer

As a botanist, Robin Wall Kimmerer has been trained to ask questions of nature with the tools of science. As a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, she embraces the notion that plants and animals are our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two ways of knowledge together.

Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings – asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass – offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.

Order the book on Bookshop.org.uk here and your purchase will support a local independent bookshop of your choice!

You can follow her work here:

Website: www.robinwallkimmerer.com

ALD21: Dr Rose Dieng-Kuntz, Computer Scientist

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Dr Rose Dieng-Kuntz

Rose Dieng-Kuntz was a computer scientist who studied artificial intelligence and the sharing of information via the World Wide Web. She was also one of the first people to work on the semantic web, beginning her work on this subject just a few years after the web itself was launched and before its use became widespread.

The semantic web was a huge step forward for the web, and Dieng-Kuntz described it as “a web of knowledge linking individuals, organisations, countries and continents”. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) states that “The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries.”

She said, “The research we are aiming for seeks to improve cooperation between business and the community by building ‘knowledge webs’, a goal that is in phase with Europe’s target of evolving from an ‘information society’ to a ‘knowledge society’.”

Dieng-Kuntz further worked on combining the semantic web with intelligent agents, a concept developed from artificial intelligence where machines are able to talk to other machines, allowing the semantic web to be automated.

Born in Senegal, Dieng-Kuntz worked for the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) on Artificial Intelligence from 1985 until her death in 2008. She was the first African woman to be awarded a diploma at the renowned École Polytechnique in Paris, France, and in 2005, she won the Irène Joliot-Curie prize, awarded annually to outstanding women scientists by the French Research Ministry and the EADS Group.

Further reading