Scientist Gladys West often preferred analog travel maps. Yet she had every reason to trust global positioning technology: She helped invent it. West passed away in January, a largely unsung hero of science and technology.
Gladys Mae Brown was born October 27, 1930. Young Gladys didn’t want to work in the fields like so many young people around her.
“I realized I had to get an education to get out,” multiple sources quote her as saying.
Gladys studied hard and earned a scholarship to Virginia State College. She majored in math, spent two years teaching, and then achieved a master’s degree, also in math.
In 1956, she received a job offer from the Naval Proving Ground in Virginia, later the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren.
For the brilliant young mathematician, “That’s when life really started,” she said. She would work there for over 40 years.
Gladys was the second black woman hired at the base and one of only four black employees. Another was fellow mathematician Ira West. The two married in 1957.
Ira spent most of his career developing computer programs for ballistic missiles. Gladys worked on tracking exact satellite locations around the world.
Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, Mrs. West’s efforts changed how people navigate. Her satellite data analysis and complex calculations touched tech from airplanes to smartphones—and laid the foundation for the Global Positioning System (GPS).
According to West, she had no idea her work would affect so many people.
“When you’re working every day, you’re not thinking, ‘What impact is this going to have on the world?’ You’re thinking, ‘I’ve got to get this right.’”
West also worked on the first satellite designed for remote sensing of oceans using synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Scientists still use SAR for studying icebergs, detecting ships, and mapping floods.
The Wests’ lives involved more than computers and mapping. The couple joined The Gideons International. The group encourages businesspeople to share God’s word. Its website reports that West said, “The ministry has eternal implications and keeps me in line with Christ.”
After retirement in 1998, West looked forward to traveling with her husband and finishing her doctorate.
“However, the Almighty apparently had other plans for me,” West said. She suffered a stroke and battled cancer. Still, she finished her PhD studies at age 70.
West’s perseverance reflects what her obituary in the Progress-Index newspaper calls her “favorite scripture”: “I can do all things through [Christ] who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)
A lifetime calculating but focusing on eternity all the while. West knew where she was going—and accepted Jesus Christ as the Way.
Why? Gladys West trusted in Christ for her final destination: a place no amount of intellect, determination, character—or the global navigation technology she helped pioneer—could secure.
Recommended Reading: For more about Gladys West, read about her life in her own words in It Began with a Dream.
Click the video button at the top of the story to watch a WORLDteen Sidebar about some of the amazing new ways people use the tech Gladys West helped invent.
