We use the inventions that he made possible with his equations during the 1960s and much of his professional career every day, but the name Gladys West is unknown to many of those who regularly navigate the road GPS or in a city while sightseeing thanks to Google Maps.
The mathematical pioneer which made the development of these navigation systems possible, Gladys Westhas died at the age of 95 after a professional career in which he contributed anonymously to laying the foundations of the global positioning system, and which did not receive recognition until less than a decade ago, in 2018.
Mathematics was his thing from the beginning
Gladys West was born in the state of Virginia in the United States in an unfavorable context, in 1930, within a family of farmers who spent long days harvesting cotton and tobacco, in which their children also helped, but the little girl showed a great interest in books and especially in mathematics, for which she had an innate talent.
This meant that, despite his family situation, he obtained a scholarship to study at Virginia State Collegewhich would later be the University of Virginia, where he graduated in mathematics, and in 1955 he taught classes in Martinsville, although he barely lasted a year in education, as he obtained an offer to work in the military sector.
Thus, in 1956, West began working on the Dahlgren Naval Proving Ground, Virginiaa center where he specialized in precision calculations for weapons, but this work would later be used for the development of the field of satellite technology.
Much of Gladys West’s work involved creating extremely accurate mathematical models of the shape of the Earth, requiring equations and meticulous orbital analysis, which she later, in the 1970s and 1980s it would be developed by the US Armed Forces to shape what would later be known as GPS.
His contribution to GPS was not recognized until 2018
The contribution of this pioneering mathematician is such that Forbes magazine even said that “GPS only exists thanks to two people: Albert Einstein and Gladys West,” a statement that could only be made possible because a member of her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alphayou will find a biography written by herself for her students.
This gave the name of Gladys West the recognition it deserves because without her calculations and work the development of the GPS navigation system would not have been possible, and in 2018 she was included in the United States Air Force Hall of Fame by the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC).
The fact of maintaining a low profile and being focused on her professional work meant that she did not mention this or give herself the fame she deserved, in fact, she herself acknowledged it in an interview in The Guardian: “I thought it was my job and we never talked about it with our friends. I never thought about it. I never bragged about what I did.”
