Christine Darden

Christine Darden (née Mann; born September 10, 1942) is an American aeronautical engineer who devoted much of her 40-year career in aerodynamics at NASA to research supersonic flight and sonic booms. She was the first African-American woman at NASA's Langley Research Center to be promoted to the Senior Executive Service, the top rank in the federal civil service.

Darden is one of the researchers featured in the book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race (2016), a history of some of the influential African-American women mathematicians and engineers at NASA in the mid-20th century, by Margot Lee Shetterly.

Early life and education

Christine Mann was born September 10, 1942, to schoolteacher Desma l. Cheney and insurance agent Noah Horace Mann Sr. in Monroe, North Carolina. Both parents encouraged her to pursue a quality education. Darden finished her last two years of primary school at Allen High School, a boarding school in Asheville, North Carolina.

She graduated as the class valedictorian in 1958, subsequently receiving a scholarship to attend Hampton University, a historically black college then known as Hampton Institute. During her studies at Hampton, she participated in some of the early protests of the Civil Rights Movement. She participated in several student sit-ins alongside her other Black peers.

Career

Teaching In 1963, Mann married Walter L. Darden Jr., a middle-school science teacher. In 1965 she became a research assistant at Virginia State College, studying aerosol physics. In 1967, Darden earned an M.S. from Virginia State and taught classes there.

Langley Research Center In 1967, Darden started working as a human computer in the Langley Research Center computer pool at NASA. By that time, computers were increasingly used for the complex calculations to support engineering and design. The department, once tasked with processing scores of collected flight test data, by the 1940s had garnered a reputation as "human computers" who were essential to NASA's operation. During the 1950s and 1960s, more of these women gained opportunities to advance as technicians and engineers.

In 1983, Darden earned a D.Sc. in engineering from George Washington University and was promoted to aerospace engineer. She specialized in analyzing supersonic noise. In 1989, Darden was appointed as leader of the sonic boom team, a subsidiary of the High Speed Research (HSR) Program. She worked on designs to decrease the negative effects of sonic booms, such as noise pollution and the depletion of the ozone layer. Her team tested new wing and nose designs for supersonic aircraft. 1998 abstract published by Darden describes the program as focused on "technologies needed for the development of an environmentally friendly, economically viable High-Speed Civil Transport [HSCT]." Darden wrote more than 50 articles in the general field of aeronautical design, specializing in supersonic flow and flap design, as well as the prediction and minimization of sonic booms.

In 1999, Darden became the director of the Aero-Performing Center Management Office. She was the first African-American woman at Langley to be promoted into the Senior Executive Service, the top rank in the federal civil service.

In March 2007, Darden retired from NASA as director of the Office of Strategic Communication and Education.

Awards In 1985, Darden received the Dr. A. T. Weathers Technical Achievement Award from the National Technical Association. She received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women in 1987. She received three Certificates of Outstanding Performance from Langley Research Center: in 1989, 1991, and 1992.

Darden received an honorary degree from North Carolina State University on December 19, 2018.

Darden also received an honorary degree from the George Washington University on May 19, 2019.

In 2019, Darden was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.