Gladys West: The Hidden Figure Who Helped Shape GPS

Gladys West, a pioneering mathematician whose function was crucial to the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS), died on January 17, 2026, at the age of 95. For decades, her contributions remained largely unrecognized, but she was later celebrated as one of history’s “hidden figures.”

Early Life and Education

Gladys Mae Brown was born on October 27, 1930, in Sutherland, Virginia, a rural community in Dinwiddie County. Her parents, Nolan Brown and Macy (Scott) Brown, owned a small farm but also worked other jobs – her father on the railroad and her mother in a tobacco factory [1]. West attended a one-room schoolhouse and excelled academically, recognizing education as her path to a different life [2].

She graduated as valedictorian of her high school class in 1948, earning a full scholarship to Virginia State College (now University), a historically Black public university [2]. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics in 1952 [2]. She later earned a Master of Science degree and, in 2000, a PhD in Public Administration from Virginia Tech [2].

Career at the Naval Proving Ground

In 1956, West became the second Black woman hired at the U.S. Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, following a ban on racial discrimination in federal hiring by President Dwight Eisenhower [1]. She began as a computer programmer and quickly became a key contributor to complex projects.

During the 1960s, she worked on a project studying the regularity of Pluto’s motion relative to Neptune, utilizing systems analysis to enable computers to perform over five billion calculations using punch cards and flow charts [1]. In 1979, she received a commendation for this work.

West later served as project manager of the Seasat radar altimetric program, which used data from the first Earth-orbiting satellite designed to monitor the oceans. With the advent of the IBM 7030 “Stretch” computer, she was able to precisely measure the Earth’s undulating surface, accounting for gravity and tides [1].

Her 1986 paper, “Data Processing System Specifications for the Geosat Satellite Radar Altimeter,” provided the calculations for an accurate geodetic Earth model that became foundational to the development of GPS [1].

Recognition and Legacy

West retired in 1998 [2]. Her contributions to GPS remained largely unknown until a biography she submitted for a sorority reunion in 2017 garnered attention, leading to widespread recognition [1].

She was inducted into the United States Air Force Hall of Fame in 2018 and received the Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for her work on satellite geodesy models [2]. In 2021, she was awarded the Prince Philip Medal by the Royal Academy of Engineering [4]. Her memoir, It Began With a Dream, was published in 2020 [4].

Despite her pivotal role in creating the technology, West reportedly preferred using traditional paper maps, stating, “I’m a doer, a hands-on person…If I can see the road and see where it turns and see where it went, I am more sure.” [1]

Gladys West is survived by her daughter, Carolyn, two sons, David and Michael, and seven grandchildren [3].