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Annie Easley

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Annie Easley
Born
Annie Jean Easley

(1933-04-23)April 23, 1933
Birmingham, Alabama
DiedJune 25, 2011(2011-06-25) (aged 78)
Cleveland, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
EducationB.S. in Mathematics, 1977
Alma materCleveland State University
OccupationComputer engineer
Employer(s)Lewis Research Center at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics

Annie Easley (April 23, 1933 – June 25, 2011) was an African American computer scientist and mathematician who made critical contributions to NASA's rocket systems and energy technologies.

Easley's early work involved running simulations at NASA's Plum Brook Reactor Facility and studying the effects of rocket launches on earth's ozone layer. She taught herself programming using languages like Fortran and SOAP (Symbolic Optimal Assembly Program) to help with these simulations. She would also work on developing code used in researching and analyzing alternative power technologies like batteries and fuel systems, which would be later used in hybrid vehicles and NASA's Centaur upper-stage rocket.[1]

Early life and education

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Annie Easley was born to Bud and Willie (née Sims) McCrory in Birmingham, Alabama.[2] She had a brother six years her senior.[3] Her mother raised them as a single mother.[4]

Before the Civil Rights Movement, educational and career opportunities for African-American children were very limited. Segregation was prevalent, African-American children were educated separately from white children, and their schools were often inferior to white schools. Annie's mother told her that she could be anything, but she would have to work at it. She encouraged Annie to get a good education. From the fifth grade through high school, Annie attended Holy Family High School, and was valedictorian of her graduating class.[5] At a young age Annie had interest in becoming a nurse, but around the age of 16 she decided to study pharmacy.[3]

In 1950, Easley enrolled in classes at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans,[6] an African-American Catholic university, and majored in pharmacy for about two years.[5] She left Xavier to get married and moved to Cleveland, Ohio.[4]

In 1977, she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Cleveland State University.[7][8]

Career

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In 1955, Annie Easley began her career at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the precursor to NASA, after reading a newspaper article about twin sisters working there as human "computers." Inspired by the opportunity, she applied the next day and was hired two weeks later as a mathematician at the NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, later renamed the NASA Lewis Research Center, and now known as the John H. Glenn Research Center. At the time, she was one of only four African Americans among approximately 2,500 employees.[9]

Easley began as a human computer, performing manual calculations for researchers before transitioning to computer programming as digital systems were introduced at NASA. She quickly became proficient in programming languages such as Fortran and contributed to code development for a variety of research initiatives. One of her notable technical contributions was her work on energy conversion systems, including simulations that supported the development of battery technology for early hybrid vehicles. She was also involved in programs related to alternative energy sources, including solar and wind technologies.[10]

Easley played a significant role in the Centaur rocket program, which was critical to the success of multiple satellite launches and planetary missions. Her programming work supported analyses and mission planning for the Centaur upper-stage rocket, known for being the first to use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as propellants. This technology was integral to launching spacecraft for missions such as Cassini and Voyager, and remains a foundational component of modern rocket design.[10]

Throughout her 34-year career at NASA, Easley faced systemic obstacles that were common for women and minorities in STEM fields. Despite holding a mathematics degree and taking internal specialization courses, she was not always afforded the same professional development opportunities as her peers. For instance, she was denied educational financial aid without explanation and was hired at a lower pay grade than promised. In her interview, she was told she would start as a GS-3, but her first paycheck listed her as a GS-2. When she questioned it, she was told no GS-3 positions were available.[11]

In addition to her technical work, Easley served as an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) counselor at NASA, helping to mediate and resolve workplace discrimination cases. She advocated for inclusive hiring practices and was involved in recruitment outreach to colleges, encouraging more women and minorities to enter engineering and science careers. Easley retired from NASA in 1989, leaving behind a legacy of resilience, innovation, and quiet leadership that helped expand the boundaries of who could contribute to scientific advancement at the nation’s space agency.[12]


Her 34-year career included developing and implementing computer code that analyzed alternative power technologies, supported the Centaur high-energy upper rocket stage, determined solar, wind and energy projects, and identified energy conversion systems and alternative systems to solve energy problems.[13] During the 1970s Easley worked on a project examining damage to the ozone layer. With massive cuts in the NASA space program, Easley began working on energy problems; her energy assignments included studies to determine the life use of storage batteries, such as those used in electric utility vehicles. Her computer applications have been used to identify energy conversion systems that offer the improvement over commercially available technologies. Following the energy crisis of the late 1970s, Easley studied the economic advantages of co-generating power plants that obtained byproducts from coal and steam.[14] After retiring in 1989, she remained an active participant in the Speaker's Bureau and the Business & Professional Women's association.[10] Despite her long career and numerous contributions to research, she was cut out of NASA's promotional photos. In response to one such event, Easley responded by saying "I'm out here to do a job and I knew I had the ability to do it, and that's where my focus was, on getting the job done. I was not intentionally trying to be a pioneer."[11]

Easley's work with the Centaur project helped lay the technological foundations for future space shuttle launches and launches of communication, military and weather satellites.[6][10] Her work contributed to the 1997 flight to Saturn of the Cassini probe, the launcher of which had the Centaur as its upper stage.[10]

Annie Easley was interviewed in Cleveland on August 21, 2001, by Sandra Johnson.[3] The interview is stored in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Johnson Space Center Oral History Program. The 55 page interview transcript includes material on the history of the Civil Rights Movement, Glenn Research Center, Johnson Space Center, space flight, and the contribution of women to space flight. In that same Interview, Easley was asked whether she still played with gadgets and stated "I don't have the time or the desire. I will get the email and I'll send it, but I don't play with it. It's not like this fascinating thing I play with. I'd much rather be out doing something actively, like on the golf course or doing other things."[8]

Easley lived in a time where women and African-Americans were facing discrimination from society. She experienced discrimination related to being an African-American during her career. In one incident, her face was cut out from a picture to put it on display. In her 34-year career she worked in four different departments: the Computer Services Division, the Energy Directorate, the Launch Vehicles Group and the Engineering Directorate, although none of her moves were due to promotions, which she recognized may have been due to her race or sex.[3]

Throughout the 1970s, Easley advocated for and encouraged female and minority students at college career days to work in STEM careers.[15] She tutored elementary and high school children as well as young adults who had dropped out of school in a work-study program.[8]

Easley was also a budding athlete who founded and subsequently became the first President of the NASA Lewis Ski Club and participated in other local ski clubs in the Cleveland area.[2][3]

A crater spanning five-and-a-half miles on the moon was named Easley in memory of her by the International Astronomical Union on February 1, 2021.[16]

Personal life

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Annie Easley receives a Special Achievement Award from Director of Administration Henry Barnett (left) and Deputy Director Gene Manganiello (June 30, 1970).

In 1954, Annie Easley married a man who was in the military. After her husband was discharged from the military, the two of them moved to Cleveland, Ohio to be near his family.[14]

After divorcing her husband, Easley returned to Birmingham. As part of the Jim Crow laws that maintained racial inequality, African Americans were required to pass a literacy test and pay a poll tax in order to vote, which was outlawed in 1964 in the Twenty-fourth Amendment. She remembered the test giver looking at her application and saying only, "You went to Xavier University. Two dollars." Subsequently, she helped other African Americans prepare for the test.[17][better source needed]

Easley had always loved dressing up. She wore stockings and heels almost every day in college. Although there was no dress code in her work department, wearing pants as a woman during that time was still not normalized. However, she was one of the first to wear pants to work in the 1970s after talking to her supervisor about it.[3]

In her first three years after retiring from NASA, Easley focused on volunteer work, often telling people she put more miles on her car as a retiree than as a worker. She traveled the world, mostly to ski, and become an independent contractor in real estate. Although she no longer tutored, she expressed that she was always willing to talk to students at career days and similar events if asked.[3]

Selected works

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  • Performance and Operational Economics Estimates for a Coal Gasification Combined-Cycle Cogeneration Powerplant. Nainiger, Joseph J.; Burns, Raymond K.; Easley, Annie J. NASA, Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. NASA Tech Memo 82729 Mar 1982 31p
  • Bleed Cycle Propellant Pumping in a Gas-Core Nuclear Rocket Engine System. Kascak, A. F.; Easley, A. J. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Report No.: NASA-TM-X-2517; E-6639 March 1972
  • Effect of Turbulent Mixing on Average Fuel Temperatures in a Gas-Core Nuclear Rocket Engine. Easley, A. J.; Kascak, A. F.; National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. Report No.: NASA-TN-D-4882 Nov 1968

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Annie Easley - NASA". Retrieved 2025-04-04.
  2. ^ a b "Annie Jean Easley Obituary". The Plain Dealer. ClevelandOhio. 28 June 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Annie Easley (21 August 2001). "Annie J. Easley Oral History". NASA Oral History Project (Interview). Interviewed by Sandra Johnson. Cleveland.
  4. ^ a b Williams, Talitha (2018). Power In Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics. New York: Race Point Publishing. pp. 86–91. ISBN 9781631064852.
  5. ^ a b "Annie Easley helped make modern spaceflight possible". Engadget. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  6. ^ a b Mullig, A. (1999). Proffitt, Pamela (ed.). Notable Women Scientists. Michigan, United States: Gale. pp. 142. ISBN 0787639001.
  7. ^ Spangenburg, Ray; Moser, Diane; Long, Douglas (2014-05-14). African Americans in Science, Math, and Invention. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-0774-5.
  8. ^ a b c "Annie J. Easley Oral History". historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2020-03-07.
  9. ^ Williams, Talithia (2018-04-10). Power in Numbers: The Rebel Women of Mathematics. Race Point Publishing. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7603-6028-6.
  10. ^ a b c d e Thomas, Kindra (16 March 2017). "Annie Easley, Computer Scientist and Mathematician". NASA. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Meet Annie Easley, the barrier-breaking mathematician who helped us explore the solar system". massivesci.com. 26 November 2018. Retrieved 2020-04-23.
  12. ^ Heidman, Kelly (2015-09-21). "Annie Easley, Computer Scientist". NASA. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  13. ^ "Easley, Annie J.: American Computer Scientist" in World of Computer Science. Brigham Narin, Ed. (Detroit, MI: Gales Group), 2002. p. 210.
  14. ^ a b "Easley, Annie J. | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved Mar 21, 2021.
  15. ^ Heidman, Kelly (2015-09-21). "Annie Easley, Computer Scientist". NASA. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  16. ^ McClain, Dylan Loeb (2025-02-01). "Overlooked No More: Annie Easley, Who Helped Take Spaceflight to New Heights". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-02-10.
  17. ^ "Annie Jean Easley: Engineer, mathematician, and rocket scientist". Rejected Princesses (in Aragonese). 2 March 2015. Retrieved 2020-03-07.


Further reading

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  • Black Contributors to Science and Energy Technology. US Department of Energy (Washington, D.C.: Office of Public Affairs), 1979, p. 19. DOE/OPA-0035 (79).
  • The ACM-Mills Conference on Pioneering Women in Computing. Mills College, Oakland, California. May 7, 2000
  • In Black and White: A Guide to Magazine Articles, Newspaper Articles and Books Concerning More than 15,000 Black Individuals and Groups. 3rd edition Mary Mace Spradling, ed. (Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research Co.), 1980. p. 289.
  • "Easley, Annie J.: American Computer Scientist" in World of Computer Science. Brigham Narin, Ed. (Detroit, Michigan: Gales Group), 2002. p. 210.
  • Pendergast, Sara; Pendergast, Tom (2007). Contemporary Black biography. profiles from the international Black community. Detroit, Michigan: Thomson Gale. ISBN 9781414429205. OCLC 183327197.
  • Warren, Wini (1999). Black women scientists in the United States. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-33603-3.
  • Samorodnitsky, Dan. “Meet Annie Easley, the Barrier-Breaking Mathematician Who Helped US Explore the Solar System.” Massive Science, 26 Nov. 2018
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