Dr. Gladys West: The Mathematician Who Reshaped Our World

Aristotle and Eratosthenes are big names in geodesy. They got
pretty close to measuring the size of the Earth. But the woman
who got it done? She grew up a farmer, dreaming of something
bigger. And her work changed how we see the world.


Dr. Gladys West didn’t have much room for error in her quest for
higher education. Marvin Jackson recounts the obstacles in her
path—and the challenges she faced in her early career. Gavin
Schrock traces how geodesy progressed before Dr. West, and how
foundational her work was for the GPS systems that followed. Paul
Ceruzzi describes the state-of-the-art technology available at
Dahlgren that helped Dr. West model the world. Todd Humphreys
explains how that model, and the GPS systems that use it, support
our way of life in more ways than we realize.


It’s an astounding story that may never have been told if it
hadn’t been for Gwen James, Dr. West’s Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority
sister. She makes the case for telling these stories before
they’re lost—because there are definitely more of them out there.


If you want to read up on some of our research on Dr. Gladys
West, you can check out all our bonus material over at
redhat.com/commandlineheroes. 


Follow along with the episode transcript.