Annie Easley

Annie Easley was a mathmetician and computer scientist who worked at NASA. Her work relates to our space systems unit in 6th grade and electricity unit in 8th grade.

Birth

April 23, 1933 in Birmingham, AL.

Family

• Father was Samuel Bird Easley.
• Mother was Mary Melvina Hoover.
• Had one older brother.
• Was married in 1954, then divorced. No one knows who she was married to.

Education

Easley majored in pharmacy at Xavier University, but did not earn a degree as the program was removed. She got her B.S. in mathematics at Cleveland State University.

Jobs

• Mathmetician and computer engineer at NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), which later became NASA. SHe worked on energy conservation and launching rockets and satellites.
• Beccame a real estate agent after she retired from NASA.

Awards/recognitions

• One of the first African Americans to work as a computer scientist at NASA
• No official awards/recognitions

Interesting facts

1. One of Easley's main projects was developing the software for the Centaur rocket.
2. Before civil rights laws passed in the 1960s, she helped train African Americans to take the voting test in Alabama.
3. She applied for a job at NACA after reading an article about twin sisters who were human computers.

Quote

"When people have their biases and prejudices, yes, I am aware. My head is not in the sand. But my thing is, if I can't work with you, I will work around you. I was not about to be so discouraged that I'd walk away. That may be a solution for some people, but it's not mine." -Annie Easley

Death

Annie Easley died on June 25, 2011 at age 78 in Cleveland, OH, due to natural causes.