Evelyn Boyd Granville was a mathematician who worked with NASA to help safely send some of the first astronauts into space.
- Died: June 27, 2023 (Who else died on June 27?)
- Details of death: Died at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of 99.
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Evelyn Boyd Granville’s legacy
Granville studied mathematics at Smith College in the 1940s before graduating from Yale in 1949 as the second Black woman in the U.S. to receive a doctorate in mathematics. She went on to teach at Fisk University before joining IBM in the mid-1950s, working as a computer programmer.
When NASA was established in 1958 and contracted IBM to work with the new agency, Granville became one of the IBM employees assigned to the space program. Her calculations were invaluable, first to the early satellite program and then to legendary spaceflights. Granville performed calculations that gave John Glenn (1921–2016) a safe landing when he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. She later provided technical support for the Apollo missions.
Granville returned to education after a decade working in the space program, teaching first at California State University, Los Angeles. She later moved on to Texas College and the University of Texas at Tyler. Granville was recognized with honorary degrees from her alma mater, Smith College, as well as Spelman College. The Yale Graduate School Alumni Association also awarded her with their prestigious Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal.
Notable quote
“Let’s say I’m in school or in a class and I have a problem to solve, and I just can’t get it. What should I do? The next day, I go back to it and have the answer. That has happened to me throughout my career. There’s something about that brain that keeps working. I wouldn’t purposely sleep on it, it would just happen. Don’t give up. If there’s something you don’t understand, don’t give up, go back to it.” —from a 2014 interview for Scientific American
Tributes to Evelyn Boyd Granville
Full obituary: The Washington Post
