She worked at Dahlgren for 42 years and retired in 1998. In 1986, West published “Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter,” a 60-page illustrated guide, which was based off data created from the radio altimeter on the Geosat satellite, which went into orbit on March 12, 1984. There, she collected data from satellites, and that job is what eventually led to the development of the Global Positioning System. In 1956, West began to work at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, where she was the second black woman ever to be employed. She became a teacher for two years, then went back to school for her Masters. She said, “I realized I had to get an education to get out.” And that she did, studying math at Virginia State University and graduating top of her class. The 87-year-old scholar knew as a child that she did not want to work in fields, picking tobacco, corn, and cotton or in a factory, beating tobacco leaves for cigarettes and pipes like her parents did. The Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame is one of Air Force’s Space Commands Highest Honors.(Photo by Adrian Cadiz – Essence) military in the era before electronic systems. West was among the so-called “Hidden Figures” part of the team who did computing for the U.S. Gladys West with an award as she is inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame during a ceremony in her honor at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Dec. Air Force Space Command Vice Commander Lt. West was unable to attend the formal ceremony back in August, she was presented with one of the Air Force’s Space Commands highest honors. Gladys West invented the GPS or the Global Positioning System and has finally received the recognition she deserves by being inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame by the United States Air Force during a ceremony held at the Pentagon on December 6th. “When you’re working every day, you’re not thinking, ‘What impact is this going to have on the world?’ You’re thinking, ‘I’ve got to get this right,’”she says.Did you know that a black woman from Virginia was instrumental in creating a convenience we use every day and almost can’t live without? West admits that she had no idea, at the time, when she was recording satellite locations and doing accompanying calculations-that her work would affect so many. West’s humble nature actually kept people from knowing how instrumental she was in the development of the device for decades. Her contributions to GPS were only uncovered when a member of West’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, read a short biography West had submitted for an alumni function. She worked at Dahlgren for 42 years, retiring in 1998. This was achieved by processing the data created from the radio altimeter on the Geosat satellite which went into orbit on 12 March 1984. The Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC) guide was published to explain how to increase the accuracy of the estimation of “geoid heights and vertical deflection”, topics of satellite geodesy. In 1986, West published “Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter”, a 60-page illustrated guide. West was a programmer in the Dahlgren Division for large-scale computers and a project manager for data-processing systems used in the analysis of satellite data. In 1979, Neiman recommended West for commendation. Her supervisor Ralph Neiman recommended her as project manager for the Seasat radar altimetry project, the first satellite that could remotely sense oceans. West began to collect data from satellites, eventually leading to the development of Global Positioning System. In 1956 West began to work at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, where she was the second black woman ever to be employed.
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