"Annie Jane-Easley"(April 23,1933-June 25,2011)

Was an African American computer scientist,mathematician and rocket scientist.she worked for the Lewis Research Center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its predecessor,the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).She was a leading of the team which developed software for the Centaur rocket stage of the first African American in her field.


She was born to Bud McCrory & Willie Sims in Birmingham Alabama.In the days before the Civil Rights Movement,educational and career opportunities for African American children and their schools were most often inferior to white school.Annie was fortunate that her mama told that she could be anything she wanted but she would have to work at it.Annie encouraged her to get a good education and from the fifth grade through high school,she attended a parochial and was valedictorian of her graduating class.


After high school she went to New Orleans,to Xavier University,then an African American Roman Catholic University,where she majored in Pharmacy for about two years.


In 1954,Annie returned toBirmingham briefly.As part of the Jim Crow laws that established and maintained racial inequality,African Americans were required to pass an onerous test literacy test and pay poll tax in order to vote.Annie remembers the test giver looking at her application and saying,"You went to Xavier University.Two dollars." Subsequently,she helped other African Americans prepare for the test.In 1963,racial segregation of Birmingham's downtown merchants ended as a result of the Birmingham Campaign,and in 1964 the Twenty-Fourth Amendment outlawed the poll tax in Federal elections.But it was not until 1965 that the Voting Rights Act elimated the literacy test.


Shorty thereafter,Annie married and moved to Cleveland with the intention of continuing her studies.Unfortunately,the local university had ended its pharmacy program a short time before and no nearby alternative existed.


In 1955,she read a local newspaper article about a story on twin sisters who worked who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) as "computers" and the next day she applied for a job.Within two weeks she was hired,one of four,African Americans of about 2500 employees.Annie began her career as a Mathematician and Computer Engineer at the NACA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory (which became NASA Lewis Research Center,1958-1999,and subsequently the John Glenn Research Center) in Cleveland,Ohio.Annie contined her education while working for the agency and in 1977,she obtained a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and from Cleveland State  University.As part of continuing education,Annie worked through specialization courses offered by NASA.


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 ane energy projects,ideentified.energy conversion systems to solve 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 yo identify energy conversion systems that offer the improvement over commercially available technologies.Annie retired in 1989(some sources say 1991).


Her early work with the Centaur project helped as techmological foundations for the space shuttle launches of communications,military and weather satellities.Her work contributed to the 1997 flight of the Cassini probe ,in the launcher of which had the Centaur as its upper stage.