![]() ![]() She is known for her contributions to mathematical modeling of the shape of the Earth, and her work on the development of satellite geodesy models, that were later incorporated into the Global Positioning System (GPS). The Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Award pays tribute to the leaders of the early years of the Air Force space program, as well as the subsequent innovators whose vision and perseverance overcame the obstacles of the unknown, those who transformed the cutting edge of technology into operational systems, and those who dedicated their lives to exploring space in support of our national security concerns. Gladys Mae West (ne Brown born Octo1) is an American mathematician. Thereafter, from the mid-1970s through the 1980s, using complex algorithms to account for variations in gravitational, tidal, and other forces that distort Earth’s shape, she programmed an IBM 7030 “Stretch” computer to deliver increasingly refined calculations for an extremely accurate geodetic Earth model, a geoid, optimized for what ultimately became the Global Positioning System (GPS) orbit. ![]() Naval Weapons Laboratory, she participated in a path-breaking, award-winning astronomical study that proved, during the early 1960s, the regularity of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune. Hired in 1956 as a mathematician at the U.S. military in the era before electronic systems. Photo: US Navy Without GPS, or women like Gladys, we’d all be more lost in this world. ![]() Gladys West is among a small group of women who did computing for the U.S. Gladys West, one of the inventors of GPS, at Dahlgren Naval Base where she was part of the computer programming team. ![]()
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