Vera Huckel

Vera Huckel (1908–1999) was an American mathematician and aerospace engineer and one of the first female "computers" at NACA, now NASA, where she mainly worked in the Dynamic Loads Division.

Huckel was born in 1908 and studied math at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1929.

After living in California for ten years, she visited a friend in Newport News and was hired as a junior computer, doing mathematical calculations for other researchers for $1,440 a year (a man with her background typically earned about $2,000 a year).

Before the invention of electronic computers, these so-called "computers," who were mostly women, would do the time-consuming calculations necessary for successful flights.

Huckel became one of the first female engineers at NASA and wrote the program for its first electronic computer.

She also worked as a supervisory mathematician and aerospace engineer during her time at NACA/NASA.

By 1945 she had been promoted to section head in charge of up to 17 other women.

She was involved in helping researchers make the switch from using slide rules to do their complex calculations to super computers.

She also worked on theories of aerodynamics.

As a mathematician, she was involved in the testing of sonic booms in supersonic flight.

Huckel retired from NASA in 1972 after working there for more than 33 years.

She was active in the Soroptomist Organization, the AAUW, and volunteered with the Hampton United Way.

Huckel died at 90 years of age on March 24, 1999, in Newport News, Virginia, where she had lived for more than 60 years.

She was buried in West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.