Black-History-Month
Gladys West (1930-)
The child of sharecroppers is rural Virginia, Gladys West grew up working on her family’s farm. She was determined to get an education which she saw as the ticket to a different life. In 1948 she graduated as the valedictorian of her high school class earning herself a scholarship to Virginia State College, a historically Black university.
At Virginia State College she majored in mathematics eventually earning a BS and then a Masters of Mathematics in 1955.
In 1956 she was hired to work at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia. She was the second Black woman ever hired at Dahlgren and one of only four Black employees. She worked at the Naval Proving Ground until she retired after 42 years in 1998. In 2000 she earned a PhD in Public Administration.
During her time at Dahlgren Gladys West worked on earth sensing and developing complex mathematical models of the earth’s shape taking into account the complex interactions of gravitational, tidal, and other forces that distort the earth’s shape. This work helped to lay the foundation for the Global Postitioning System.
In 2018 she was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame, one of the highest honors afforded by the Air Force Space Command. Capt. Godfrey Weekes, commanding officer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, described West’s role in the development of Global Positioning System: “She rose through the ranks, worked on the satellite geodesy, and contributed to the accuracy of GPS and the measurement of satellite data. As Gladys West started her career in 1956, she likely had no idea that her work would impact the world for decades to come.”