Helaine Becker
Helaine Becker is the author of the new children's picture book, Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13. From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: Why did you decide to write a children's picture book about the mathematician Katherine Johnson?--Marshal Zeringue
A: I was working on another book about space for National Geographic when I stumbled across a brief snippet on line about Katherine Johnson. This was well before Hidden Figures came out, so there was almost nothing out there about her. I was smitten. I wanted to make sure everyone else out there knew how amazing she was!
Throw in the mix that I am a staunch feminist and sick and tired that women's accomplishments - minorities too - are continuously erased from the record. I wanted to set the record straight.
Q: How did you research the book?
A: Katherine Johnson was 96 years old at that time. It wasn't easy to find her - she...[read on]
