Gladys West
Mathematician behind the geodetic Earth model used by GPS
At a glance
- Inventor
- Gladys West
- Life
- b. 1930
- Birthplace
- Sutherland, Virginia
- Country
- United States
- Region
- United States
- Era
- 1950–2000
- Fields
- Science & Engineering, Space & Aerospace
- Evidence
- Documented
- Records
- 1 in this archive
What they did
At the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, West programmed the computations refining satellite geodesy models of the Earth's shape — work that fed the geoid models GPS depends on.
Historical context
Satellite positioning is only as accurate as the mathematical model of the Earth's irregular gravitational shape beneath it.
The legacy
Inducted into the US Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2018. Precision: she did not 'invent GPS' — she produced the geodetic modelling essential to its accuracy.
The evidence
Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division historical records
Primary recordSpace and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame citation, 2018
Primary record
Documentation strength
- 2
- Sources
- 2
- Primary
- 2
- Publishers
Calculated from the sources actually attached to this record — the closer a source sits to the original document, the more it counts. It is never asserted by hand.