US Edition‘Hidden Figure’ Gladys West, GPS Pioneer and Navy Civilian, Dies at 95
Gladys Mae West developed foundational GPS algorithms while overcoming racial and gender barriers, with her work enabling global navigation used by billions, experts say.
- On Jan. 17, mathematician Gladys Mae West died peacefully surrounded by family, whose work became the foundation for the Global Positioning System .
- Born on a Dinwiddie County farm during the Great Depression, Gladys Mae West overcame segregation to secure a mathematics position at the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, one of four Black employees and the second Black woman there.
- Working on satellite altimetry, West managed Seasat radar altimetry work and programmed the IBM 7030 'Stretch'.
- Recognition only grew after a short alumni biography drew attention, and Marvin Jackson, biographer, said `This woman had so much knowledge and was just such a beautiful person`; the story was initially reported by a Scripps News Group station in Richmond, Virginia.
- As a so-called 'hidden figure,' West's algorithms now impact military, auto, cell phone industries, and NASA, retired Navy Rear Adm. Sinclair Harris said.
14 Articles
14 Articles
She was 95 years old. She was one of the decisive scientists in the development of the global positioning system, a life between racism, NASA and supercomputers.
Army Times
‘Hidden Figure’ Gladys West, GPS pioneer and Navy civilian, dies at 95
Gladys Mae West, whose mathematical work became the integral foundation for modern GPS, has died. West, surrounded by family and friends, passed away peacefully on Jan. 17. She was 95.Born in rural Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1930, West sought to leave her family farm from the beginning. “I guess I found that a little bit contrary to what I had in my mind of where I wanted to go,” she told the BBC in 2018. For most living in the Jim Crow Sout…
Gladys West, mathematician whose work made GPS possible, dies at 95
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…
Gladys West, key figure in the development of GPS, died at 95
The mathematician Gladys West has died at the age of 95, being one of the pioneers in the development of satellite navigation systems, which allowed the appearance of GPS. The GPS system makes it possible to determine the position of an object anywhere in the world with great precision, usually within a few meters with […]
Black innovator who mapped the world dies at 95
from WILL COOPER in New York, USASpecial contributorNEW YORK, (CAJ News) – LEGEND Dr. Gladys Mae West, the pioneering Black mathematician whose work helped create the backbone of the Global Positioning System (GPS), died at the age of 95 on January 17, 2026, surrounded by family at her home in Virginia, the United States. West’s passing marks the end of a remarkable life that began in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, where she was born into a farming…
The US mathematician Gladys West has calculated Earth models that form the basis for positioning by satellite. She became 95 years old.
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