National Women's History Month at Trexler Library

March is National Women’s History Month, and Trexler Library is celebrating with the women of NASA! We have a display in our lobby for the month highlighting the accomplishments of female scientists, mathematicians, and astronauts. They include:

Kitty O’Brien Joyner (1916-1993), an electrical engineer who joined NASA’s predecessor the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1939. She was the first woman to graduate from UVA’s engineering program and the first female engineer at NACA. She eventually rose to a branch head position.

Judith Resnik (1949-1986), an engineer, pilot, and astronaut who was the first Jewish woman of any nationality in Space. She was recruited to NASA as a mission specialist at 28 years old and developed software and operating procedures for NASA flights. Unfortunately, she died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.

Mae Jemison (1956-), an engineer, physician, and former astronaut. She served as the mission specialist on Space Shuttle Endeavour, becoming the first black women to travel to space in 1992. She served as a doctor in the Peace Corps before applying to NASA, founded a technology company and non-profit education foundation after leaving NASA, and has even written several books for children and appeared on TV.

Kalpana Chawla (1962-2003), an astronaut and engineer. She was the first woman of Indian descent to go into space in 1997 as a mission specialist and robotic arm operator. Along with the rest of the crew, Chawla tragically died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003.

Christina Koch (1979-), an engineer and astronaut of NASA’s class of 2013. In March of 2019, she went to the International Space Station to completed three missions. In October 2019, Koch and fellow female astronaut Jessica Meir participated in the first all-female spacewalk. Koch returned to Earth in February 2020, breaking the record for longest continuous stay in space by a woman.

Find out more about the women of NASA at our display. Women’s History Month began as an effort in the 1970s to revise school curriculum in California to better reflect the role women played throughout US history. This lead to a Women’s History Week in 1978, correlating with March 8, International Women’s Day. In 1980, the National Women’s History Project along with other advocacy groups and historians successfully lobbied for national recognition: President Jimmy Carter declared the week of March 8, 1980 as National Women’s History Week by Presidential Proclamation. In 1987, Congress passes Public Law 100-9, designating March as Women’s History Month.