Hoover, Dorothy McFadden
Dorothy M. Hoover was a pioneer in the field of aeronautical mathematics and research. The granddaughter of enslaved people, she overcame the significant obstacles facing African American women in the twentieth century to earn advanced degrees in physics and mathematics. One of her greatest achievements in aeronautical research was her contribution to the development of the “thin sweptback tapered wing,” which revolutionized flight and became the aviation industry standard. Her life story was essentially unknown until she was briefly mentioned in the highly acclaimed book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (2016), by Margot Lee Shetterly. Hidden Figures, which was made into a major motion picture …
