Melba Ray Mouton was born in Fairfax, Virginia in 1929, she received both her undergraduate and masters degrees in mathematics from Howard University, and before starting at Nasa, Mouton worked at both the Army Map Service and Census Bureau. Mouton graduated from Howard during the baby boom following World War II and she used both of Mathematics degrees to plot neighborhoods and other areas of population growth.
Melba Ray Mouton would go on to serve as an Assistant chief of Research Programs at Nasa's Trajectory and Geo-dynamics Division as well as becoming head mathematician for Echo's 1 and 2 satellites, among other distinguished positions she held.
At Howard some of her accomplishments are as listed:
Mouton played a crucial role in tracking and managing communications between Nasa and the Echo 1 and Echo 2 Satellites. Echo 1 was one of the first satellites used to orbit Earth and was extremely important in establishing fast communication across the world. A short clip of the history of the Echo Satellites can be found here:
After being promoted to head computer Mouton was now boss to dozens of human computers that became a central role in important Nasa projects. Mouton was in charge of computers such as Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Dorothy Vaughan, the main characters in the blockbuster film "Hidden Figures". As computers were advancing coding languages such as "APL" became extremely important especially on project such as the ones Nasa was inclined to deal with. Mouton became well versed in a number of programming languages and was quickly asked to teach other human computers the ropes as well being asked to lead classes for others.
Mouton died of a brain tumor on June 25, 1990, she had three children. Melba Ray's contribution to the world of math, science, programming and the space race is undeniable, and the position she held as an African - American woman during the civil rights movement in the United States is an inspiration and has opened the doors to a more inclusive and diverse world of technology.
