Gladys West, trailblazing mathematician who helped develop GPS, has died

Gladys West, the trailblazing mathematician whose work helped develop GPS, has died.

Photo: YouTube/National Center of Women's Innovations

Gladys West, the trailblazing mathematician whose work helped develop GPS, has died. She was 95 years old.

“This morning, the world lost a pioneer in Dr. Gladys West. She passed peacefully alongside her family and friends and is now in heaven with her loved ones,” her family said in a statement on Sunday. “We thank you in advance for all of the love and prayers you have and will continue to provide.”

West, born in 1930 on a farm in Virginia’s Dinwiddie County, knew the value of hard work from an early age. She was valedictorian of her segregated high school and earned a full scholarship to Virginia State College, now known as Virginia State University. While there, she pledged Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from the HBCU before embarking on her history-making career at the Naval Proving Ground (now called Naval Support Facility Dahlgren) in Virginia. She was only the second Black woman to be hired there.

During West’s 42-year career with the Navy, she played a key role in the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS). A skilled mathematician, West solved complex calculations by hand and computer. Her teams focused on measuring the Earth, and her work laid the foundation for the GPS technology used in cars and phones worldwide.

After retirement, she earned her doctorate at Virginia Tech.

Despite her contributions toward the technology that so many people around the world use today, West preferred to use a paper map to get around.

“I’m a doer, hands-on kind of person. If I can see the road and see where it turns and see where it went, I am more sure,” West told the Guardian in 2020.

Her memoir, “It Began with A Dream,” was published in 2020.