Gladys West

Gladys West (1930-2026) was a skilled mathematician who was a key, yet “hidden figure” in the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS).  

Born and raised in Virginia during the Jim Crow era, she found education to be of the utmost importance to improving her life. In an interview with Virginia Currents/VPM, she shared, “I made a commitment to be the best I could be and absorb as much knowledge that a little farm girl could handle.”

She was valedictorian of her high school class, and took her passion for geometry to Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), where she received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mathematics. After a few years teaching math and science, she began working at the Naval Proving Ground in 1956 as one of four Black employees. 

In the ’70s and ’80s, West was responsible for programming the IBM 7030 computer, running calculations that helped create an accurate model of the shape of the Earth. Her work would become the basis for satellite navigation. 

She is the only Black woman to be inducted into the United States Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame and received numerous other awards and accolades for her work from public, military, and scientific institutions. Shortly after she passed in January 2026, she was inducted into the Geospatial Professional Network Hall of Fame for her “path-breaking” contributions to the profession.