(Bloomberg) -- NASA will name its headquarters in Washington, D.C. after Mary W. Jackson, the agency’s first Black female engineer.
“Hidden no more, we will continue to recognize the contributions of women, African Americans, and people of all backgrounds who have helped construct NASA’s successful history to explore,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.
Mary W. Jackson, a mathematician and aerospace engineer, was pivotal in the hiring and promotion of women at NASA, the agency said. Her career and legacy were chronicled in the 2016 film “Hidden Figures,” and was portrayed by actress Janelle Monáe.
Jackson was hired into the segregated West Area Computing Unit of the agency’s Langley Research Center, where she worked under Dorothy Vaughan.
