Vocabulary in Hidden Figures

The large-scale organizing of people, resources, and industry to prepare for and support a war effort or major national undertaking.

Performs mathematical calculations by hand, as done by a person employed specifically for that purpose before electronic computers existed.

The science and practice of designing, building, and flying aircraft; the field of study governing how aircraft move through the air.

The enforced separation of people by race in public spaces, schools, workplaces, and other institutions, legally mandated in the American South.

The system of state and local laws in the American South that enforced racial segregation and second-class status for Black Americans from the late 1800s through the 1960s.

A large tube-shaped research device that blows controlled streams of air over aircraft models or parts to study how they will behave in flight.

The curved path an object — such as a rocket or spacecraft — follows through space under the forces of gravity and thrust.

Faster than the speed of sound, roughly 767 miles per hour at sea level; describing aircraft or flight that breaks the sound barrier.

Irregular, unpredictable air movement that causes instability for aircraft; used in the book also to suggest social and professional upheaval.

A World War II–era campaign by Black Americans demanding victory against fascism abroad AND victory against racism at home, symbolized by two V-for-victory signs.

An aeronautical design principle stating that an aircraft's cross-sectional area must change smoothly along its length to reduce drag and allow supersonic flight.

The angle between an aircraft's wing and the oncoming airflow; a critical variable engineers calculate to determine lift and the risk of a stall.

A phrase from the Supreme Court's 1955 Brown v. Board ruling ordering school desegregation to proceed "with all deliberate speed," widely criticized as allowing indefinite delay.

In mathematics and engineering, the number of independent variables or directions of movement available to a system; here used to describe the range of motion in orbital mechanics.

The branch of physics and mathematics that calculates the paths and movements of spacecraft traveling around Earth or through the solar system.

An introductory section that sets the background for what follows; here used to suggest that the past experiences of Black women directly led to their later achievements.

Compulsory enrollment of civilians into military service; the draft, by which the government legally requires eligible people to serve in the armed forces.

The official government process of obtaining equipment, supplies, or personnel — here referring to the wartime hiring of workers for defense agencies.

Describing a spaceflight that travels into space but does not complete a full orbit of the Earth, following an arc that returns to the surface.

A table or set of calculated data giving the predicted positions of a spacecraft, planet, or star at specific times, used for navigation and mission planning.

Producing excessive aerodynamic drag — the resistance force that slows an aircraft or spacecraft moving through air or atmosphere.

A group of workers assigned collectively to tasks as needed, rather than to a single supervisor; the organizational unit in which the women computers worked at Langley.

A directive issued by the President of the United States that carries the force of law and instructs federal agencies or contractors on policy, such as banning racial discrimination in hiring.

The phase of a spacecraft's flight when it re-enters Earth's atmosphere from space, generating extreme heat and requiring precise calculation to survive.