NASA Hidden Figure Dorothy J. Vaughan (Narrated by Octavia Spencer)

Dorothy J. Vaughan was a pioneer human computer and visionary who was integral in the expansion of a diverse workforce across NASA.

She began her career with the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 1943 as part of the segregated West Area Computing Unit, an all-black group of female mathematicians.
Their ground-breaking work and remarkable contributions left an indelible mark on the NASA community.

Promoted to lead the West Area Computers in 1949, Vaughan was NACA’s first black supervisor and one of its few female supervisors. She was a steadfast advocate for the women who worked as human computers, and for all the individuals under her leadership.

Dorothy Vaughan helmed West Computing for nearly a decade. In 1958, when the NACA made the transition to NASA, segregated facilities, including the West Computing office, were abolished. Dorothy Vaughan and many of the former West Computers joined the new Analysis and Computation Division (ACD), a racially and gender-integrated group on the frontier of electronic computing. Dorothy Vaughan became an expert FORTRAN programmer, and she also contributed to the Scout Launch Vehicle Program.

Through her exceptional leadership and dedication to the betterment of all individuals – particularly women of color, her legacy informed the agency’s current diverse workforce.

Innovators like Vaughan laid the foundation for NASA to revisit the Moon for the first time since the Apollo era, this time with the first woman and first person of color under the Artemis program.