Il diritto di contare - 9788869053436

Il diritto di contare: Se John Glenn ha orbitato intorno alla terra e Neil Armstrong è stato il primo uomo a camminare sulla Luna, parte del merito va alle scienziate della NASA che negli anni Quaranta, armate di matita, regolo e addizionatrice, elaborarono i calcoli matematici che avrebbero permesso a razzi e astronauti di partire alla conquista dello spazio. Tra loro c'erano anche Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson e Katherine Johnson. Chiamate in servizio durante la seconda guerra mondiale a causa della carenza di personale maschile, quando l'industria aeronautica americana aveva un disperato bisogno di esperti con le giuste competenze, queste tre donne afroamericane lasciarono le proprie vite per trasferirsi in Virginia a lavorare per il Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Il loro contributo, benché le leggi sulla segregazione razziale imponessero loro di non mescolarsi alle colleghe bianche, si rivelò determinante per raggiungere l'obiettivo a cui l'America aspirava: battere l'Unione Sovietica nella corsa allo spazio e riportare una vittoria decisiva nella guerra fredda.
If John Glenn orbited the Earth and Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the Moon, some of the credit also goes to NASA scientists who in the 1940s developed the mathematical calculations that would allow to rockets and astronauts to leave the conquest of space. Among them was a group of African American women of exceptional talent, originally confined to teach mathematics in public schools "for black people" of the deep South of the United States. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden were called into service during World War II due to a shortage of male staff, when American aviation industry was in desperate need of experts with right skills. All of a sudden in these brilliant mathematical and physical was the chance to get a job at the height of their preparation, a call to which they responded by leaving their lives and moved to Hampton, Virginia, and enter into the fascinating World of Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. And their contribution, although racial segregation laws would require them not to mingle at white colleagues, proved crucial to achieve the goal to which America aspired: beat the Soviet Union in the space race and bring back a decisive victory in the cold war. Against the backdrop of the struggle for civil rights and the space race, "the right to count" follows the career of these four women for nearly thirty years, during which time they faced