Gladys West

West was born as Gladys Mae Brown in Sutherland, Virginia, in Dinwiddie County, a rural county south of Richmond.[1][2][3] Her family was an African-American farming family in a community of sharecroppers.[4] Her mother worked at a tobacco factory, and her father was a farmer who also worked for the railroad.[3] West realized early on that she did not want to work in the tobacco fields or factories like the rest of her family, and decided that education would be her way out.[5]

At West's high school, the top two students of each graduating class received full-ride scholarships to Virginia State College (now formally University), a historically black public university.[4] West worked hard and graduated in 1948 with the title of valedictorian.[3][5] She was initially unsure what college major to pursue at VSU, as she had excelled in all her subjects in high school. She was encouraged to major in science or math because of their difficulty, and West ultimately chose to study mathematics, a subject mostly studied at her college by men.[4] She also became a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.[1] West graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics.[3] After graduating, she taught math and science for two years in Waverly, Virginia.[3] West then returned to VSU to complete her Master of Mathematics degree, graduating in 1955.[5][3] Afterwards, she briefly took another teaching position in Martinsville, Virginia.[3]

Data processing report for GeoSat by Gladys West[6]

In 1956, West was hired to work at the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, (now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center), where she was the second black woman ever hired and one of only four black employees.[4][2][1] West was a programmer in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division for large-scale computers and a project manager for data-processing systems used in the analysis of satellite data.[7] Concurrently, West earned a second master's degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma.[3]

In the early 1960s, she participated in an award-winning astronomical study that proved the regularity of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune.[8] Subsequently, West began to analyze data from satellites, putting together altimeter models of the Earth's shape. She became project manager for the Seasat radar altimetry project, the first satellite that could remotely sense oceans.[9][10] West consistently put in extra hours, cutting her team's processing time in half.[4] She was recommended for a commendation in 1979.[11]

From the mid-1970s through the 1980s, West programmed an IBM computer to deliver increasingly precise calculations to model the shape of the Earth – an ellipsoid with irregularities, known as the geoid. Generating an extremely accurate model required her to employ complex algorithms to account for variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces that distort Earth's shape. West's data ultimately became the basis for the Global Positioning System (GPS).[8]

In 1986, West published Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter, a 51-page technical report from The Naval Surface Weapons Center (NSWC). The guide was published to explain how to increase the accuracy of the estimation of geoid heights and vertical deflection, important components of satellite geodesy.[1] This was achieved by processing the data created from the radio altimeter on the Geosat satellite, which went into orbit on March 12, 1984.[6]

West worked at Dahlgren for 42 years, retiring in 1998.[4] After retiring, she completed a PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech.

Gladys West being inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2018

West's vital contributions to GPS technology were rediscovered when a member of West's sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha read a short biography Gladys had submitted for an alumni function.[1]

West was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018, one of the highest honors bestowed by Air Force Space Command (AFSPC).[12][8] The AFSPC press release at the time called her one of "the so-called 'Hidden Figures' part of the team who did computing for the US military in the era before electronic systems" – a reference to the 2016 book by Margot Lee Shetterly, which was adapted into the film Hidden Figures.[13] Capt. Godfrey Weekes, commanding officer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in 2018, described the role played by West in the development of Global Positioning System: "She rose through the ranks, worked on the satellite geodesy, and contributed to the accuracy of GPS and the measurement of satellite data. As Gladys West started her career as a mathematician at Dahlgren in 1956, she likely had no idea that her work would impact the world for decades to come."[14] West agreed, saying that she had no idea at the time that her work would affect so many: “When you’re working every day, you’re not thinking, 'What impact is this going to have on the world?' You're thinking, 'I've got to get this right.'"[1]

West was selected by the BBC as part of their 100 Women of 2018.[4]

As an alumna of Virginia State University Dr. Gladys West was nominated and won the award for "Female Alumna of the Year" at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Awards sponsored by HBCU Digest in 2018.[15]

She met her husband Ira West at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, where he also worked as a mathematician. They were two of only four black employees at the time.[1] They were married in 1957.[4][2] They have three children and seven grandchildren.[1] As of February 2018, West lives in King George County, Virginia.[1]

In 2018, West completed a PhD via a distance-learning program with Virginia Tech.[8][16]

West continues to prefer using a paper map over a tracking system, saying she still trusts her brain above all.[17] She stated, "I'm a doer, hands-on kind of person. If I can see the road and see where it turns and see where it went, I am more sure."[18]

• Gladys B. West, "Smoothing of Geos 3 satellite radar altimeter data", Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 84, Issue B8, July 10, 1979, pp. 4055–4060.
• Gladys B. West, SEASAT Satellite Radar Altimetry Data Processing System, Technical report, Naval Surface Weapons Center, Dahlgren, VA, May 1981. Full text: PDF.
• Gladys B. West, "Mean Earth ellipsoid determined from SEASAT 1 altimetric observations", Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 87, No. B7, July 10, 1982, pp. 5538–5540.
• Gladys B. West (June 1986). "Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter" (PDF). Naval Surface Weapons Center, Dahlgren VA, Report NSWC TR 86-149. Retrieved February 9, 2018.

• Handcock, Katherine (23 May 2019). "Dr. Gladys West: The "Hidden Figure" who pioneered GPS technology". A Mighty Girl. Retrieved 2021-01-15.