Today’s Google Doodle celebrates Mary Golda Ross, the first known female Native American engineer. Born today in 1917, she was the great-great-granddaughter of John Ross, the longest-serving chief of the Cherokee Nation. She went on to be the only woman (aside from the secretary) on a top-secret 40-person team that helped send people to space.
Ross worked as a teacher at a Native American boarding school before pursuing a masters degree in math at the Colorado State College of Education. During World War II, Ross joined Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to engineer fighter plans. Afterward, she earned a certification in aeronautical engineering from UCLA.
Next, Lockheed asked her to be one of 40 engineers on its elite, secret “Skunk Works”...
