
In February 2018, the Virginia General Assembly celebrated her “analytical skill and her ability to accurately calculate complex mathematical figures,” which enabled her to make “valuable contributions to the development of the Global Positioning System. West has dedicated her time to working to increase interest in STEM among American youth, speaking regularly at local elementary schools. in Public Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. West retired in 1998 and in 2000, earned a Ph.D.
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In 1986, West published a guide explaining how to calculate the altitude accuracy using GEOSAT data, entitled “Data Processing System Specifications for the GEOSAT Satellite Radar Altimeter”. The culmination of this new data led to the production of the Geodetic Satellite, or GEOSAT, in 1984, which gave military services the ability to create cutting-edge computer simulations of Earth’s surface. She also oversaw a team that created a satellite capable of remotely sensing oceans, leading to more accurate altitude variations. In 1975, West managed the Geodynamics Experimental Ocean Satellite project, which produced significant and important data. "Without that model, and regular updates thereto, the extraordinary positioning, navigation and timing accuracy of GPS would be impossible to achieve." She went on to create a complex computer program that produced refined calculations of the Earth's position through accounting for variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces that distorted Earth’s shape. In 1962, she joined the Scientific Programming & Analysis Branch in the Computation Division at Dahlgren, where she was a part of a five-member team that determined the "regularity of the motion of Pluto relative to Neptune" - 5 billion arithmetic calculations that consumed 100 hours of computing time went into this proof. She worked with the Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) to verify calculations related to national security and defense. Naval Weapons Laboratory (NWL), in Dahlgren, VA, as a mathematician. After 2 years of teaching science and math in Virginia public schools, she returned to VSU as a full-time Master's student, earning her M.S. West was offered a full-ride to Virginia State University (VSU), where she majored in Mathematics and graduated in 1952. Graduating valedictorian from her high school in 1948, she strongly believed that education was the key to success in her future. Gladys West (1930 - ) was born into a rural community of farmers and sharecroppers in Sutherland, Virginia.

Military in the 1950s and 1960s, before electronic systems existed. West was considered a "human computer" for the U.S.


West, who has been recognized and honored for her key contributions to the. West is the "hidden figure" who first developed the mathematics necessary to create the Global Positioning System (GPS). The inspiring and touching memoir of a pioneering mathematician, Dr. Gladys Mae Brown West is one of the reasons that you can get directions on your phone to anywhere in the world.
