In 1951, Mary Jackson was recruited by NACA and worked as a human computer. In 1953, Mary began working for a NASA engineer named Kazimierz Czarnecki. She worked on the Supersonic Pressure Tunnel which was a wind tunnel. Engineers would create winds almost at the speed of sound (super fast!) and study how the forces (the push or pull) affected the model inside the wind tunnel. After some difficulties, Mary was allowed to take graduate level math and physics courses at The University of Virginia. She obtained her degree in aerospace engineering and became NASA’s first African American engineer in 1958.

NOTE: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) is replaced by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958.

Mary Jackson Coloring Page