Why should you know who Annie Easley is? Well because she was a pioneering computer scientist, mathematician, and rocket scientist, working at NASA before it even became NASA!
Born in Birmingham, Alabama on April 23rd, 1933, Annie Jean Easley grew up in a time of widespread racial division before the Civil Rights Movement, when access to educational and career opportunities for African Americans were extremely limited – education was segregated, and generally speaking the standard of education available to African American children was often inferior when compared to the standard for Caucasian children. Despite this Annie Easley persevered, taking her mum’s statement that she could be anything she wanted to be, she just had to work at it, to heart.
When Easley went off to University, she originally enrolled on a pharmaceutical course, but after 2 years, she dropped out and headed for Cleveland. Ohio, to be nearer to her husband’s family. Planning to continue her pharmacy studies, Easley found out that the local university in Cleveland, had stopped offering the pharmacy program, and there was not a nearby alternative. So, Easley simply looked for something else.
It was a newspaper article about twin sisters working as ‘human computers’ at the nearby National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, or NACA (which would evolve into NASA) that prompted her move into this field. Having strong maths skills, Easley interviewed for a role with NACA, and not two weeks later she was working there!
Initially her role was as a ‘human computer’ – essentially carrying out complex computations (by hand!) for researchers. However, as the first computer machines began to come about the reliance on ‘human computers’ would lessen, Easley adapted and switched over to become a programmer – learning assembly language, and FORTRAN (a programming language that is suited to scientific application) – in order to evolve and grow her career.
Easley was an accomplished programmer and worked on many different projects across NACA/NASA. Projects such as those looking into alternative power technology – including ones recognisable today such as solar power and wind power technologies. Easley also worked on worked on projects looking into storage batteries, and this work informed the development of batteries that are used today in hybrid vehicles! In addition to this, Annie Easley worked on projects as part of shuttle launches, and helped with the designing and testing of the NASA reactor located in Plum Brook, Ohio.
Perhaps her most famous work at NASA was developing software on a project called the Centaur rocket. And you can find several biographical articles on Easley, crediting her work on this project as the reason we can explore space and the solar system in the way we do today.
The Centaur rocket was a pioneering rocket that utilised a highly unique fuel system – without going into too much technical detail, the Centaur was a powerful upper stage rocket, that used a mixture of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen (high energy, and highly unstable!)
Such was the power of this rocket, that it has been used many times since to launch numerous satellites. The Surveyor robot moon landings between 1966-1968? Powered into space with a Centaur rocket. The Cassini mission to Saturn that launched in 1997? Used a Centaur rocket. Deep space exploration craft such as the Pioneer, or the Voyager? Also launched using Centaur rockets.
The InSight Mission to Mars was launched in 2018 using an Atlas V-401 rocket, which is a modern iteration of the Centaur rocket.
In short, a lot of space flight and exploration has been made possible by the Centaur, and Annie Easley’s work was part of this.
She continued learning and growing throughout her career, she continued her university education whilst working full time, earning a degree in Mathematics from Cleveland State University. And spent 34 years working at NACA/NASA until she retired in 1989.
It is impossible to write any sort of bio on Annie Easley without also looking at her work in encouraging those from minority backgrounds, and women into STEM careers, as well as her work advocating for equality.
As one of the first African Americans working at NACA/NASA (some reports say she was one of only around four African Americans on staff at the time) and going about her life in a time where Jim Crow laws were in existence, where she herself experienced discrimination. Easley helped others and worked and educated people on workplace discrimination on grounds of race, gender, and age.
Before the Civil Rights movement, laws were in place that meant any African American person who wanted to vote were subject to a literacy test and had to pay a poll tax. Using her education, Annie Easley took it upon herself to teach and coach others to sit – and pass – the test so they could exercise their democratic rights.
At NASA, Easley worked as an Equal Employment Opportunity counsellor, helping to educate and address issues of discrimination. Though there was much work to be done, and Annie Easley has herself recounted in interviews times where she had been cut out of promotional photos featuring her co-workers, was denied financial aid from NASA for her education and so on.
Annie Easley was also active in the NASA speaker’s bureau, using this to reach out and encourage minorities and women into STEM fields and careers. And even after her retirement from NASA, this was something Easley continued to do.
Annie Easley passed away on June 25th, 2011. Her NASA biography states she was humble; she would always say that she never set out to be a trailblazer or a role model, but it was her energy, her attitude, and her intelligence that made such an impact and a difference and meant that she became a truly inspirational figure.