Question 1

True or false: Mary Jackson's career was featured prominently in the book and film 'Hidden Figures'.

Accepted Answer

True. She was one of three central figures in the 2016 book and film, portrayed by Janelle Monáe.

Question 2

True or false: Mary Jackson originally worked as a human computer before becoming an engineer.

Accepted Answer

True. Hired in 1951, she computed data in the segregated West Area Computing unit, then retrained as an engineer.

Question 3

True or false: Mary Jackson was the first woman to lead a major NASA space mission.

Accepted Answer

False. She never led a space mission; she was an engineer and later a manager in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs.

Question 4

True or false: Mary Jackson was the first Black female engineer at NASA, starting in the 1950s.

Accepted Answer

True. She broke barriers in 1958, becoming NASA's first Black female engineer after working as a mathematician at Langley.

Question 5

True or false: Mary Jackson had to get special permission to attend graduate-level engineering classes.

Accepted Answer

True. In the 1950s, she petitioned the city of Hampton to attend whites-only night classes at UVA extension, winning the right.

Question 6

True or false: Mary Jackson authored over 50 published research papers on aerodynamics.

Accepted Answer

False. Jackson co-authored about a dozen papers, not 50. Her work focused on wind tunnel experiments and boundary layer effects.

Question 7

True or false: Mary Jackson invented the portable space toilet used on the Space Shuttle.

Accepted Answer

False. No record links her to space toilets. Her work was in aerodynamics, not life-support or sanitation systems.

Question 8

True or false: Mary Jackson retired from NASA in 1985 as the agency's highest-ranking female engineer.

Accepted Answer

False. She retired as a manager in Equal Opportunity, not as an engineer, and was not the highest-ranking female engineer.

Mary Jackson Trivia Questions