GREAT WOMAN OF MATHEMATICS: DR. ANGIE TURNER KING, 1905-2004. Dr. King is best known as the teacher and mentor of Katherine Johnson, the mathematician who calculated trajectories for Apollo space missions (link below) but her story is amazing in its own right. She was the 1/7 
granddaughter of former slaves. She lost her parents when she was very young, and was then raised for a time by her grandmother and later, separately, by her grandfather. With the trauma of slavery in her background, King's grandmother was not able to be a loving presence 2/7
for her. Her grandfather did better, insisting on getting an education for her despise his own illiteracy. She was a brilliant student, graduating high school at age 14. She went on to college, graduating cum laude from West Virginia State with degrees in mathematics and 3/7
chemistry, and earned a master's from Cornell by studying in summers and teaching during the school years. She returned to WVS to teach, including teaching chemistry to soldiers as part of the US Army Specialized Training Program, and earned her PhD in 1955 from University 4/7
of Pittsburgh. Seeing the need for both role models and devoted teachers who would invest themselves in students' success--and loving her role as a teacher and mentor most of all--she published little, devoting herself to her students. In surveys of former WVS students, 5/7
she alone garnered over a third of their votes for favorite teacher. Katherine Johnson is her most well-known former student and mentoree, but she was also very important in the life of Margaret Collins, the entomologist and civil rights advocate. In addition to a career that 6/7
made an enormous difference in many lives, Dr. King was a devoted wife and mother, raising five daughters. She lived on the WVS campus until her death in 2004. 7/7
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