Mary Jackson

Portrait of Mary Jackson painted using the second colour palette of Huely*.

Mary Jackson was a mathematician and aerospace engineer. She initially stated working for NACA (which became NASA in 1958) as a research mathematician, or human computer. She later worked with engineer Kazimierz Czarnecki, who encouraged her to undergo training to become an engineer. After completing the courses she was hired an aerospace engineer in 1958, making her NASA’s first black female engineer. Her work included understanding air flow, thrust and drag forces in let her to improve planes. She later worked to influence the career path of women in science, engineering and mathematics at NASA.

* Huely is a limited colour palette challenge I run during July. The name is the combination of Hue (colour) and the month its held (July). For each image I use a maximum of 5 colours (+ black and white) to paint my images.