Dr. Gladys West, the mathematician whose groundbreaking work made GPS possible, has died at the age of 95.
West passed away over the weekend, surrounded by family and friends.
Born on a Dinwiddie County farm in Virginia during the Great Depression, West overcame segregation to become a groundbreaking scientist.
At the Naval Surface Warfare Center, she spent years calculating precise models of Earth's shape. Her mathematical work became the backbone of the Global Positioning System we all use today.
"This woman had so much knowledge and was just such a beautiful person," said Marvin Jackson, Gladys' biographer, in a 2022 interview.
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