Dr. Gladys Mae West, the mathematician whose groundbreaking work helped lay the foundation for the Global Positioning System that guides everything from smartphones to aircraft, died Jan. 17 at her home in Virginia. She was 95.
West’s death was confirmed in a social-media post shared by her family, which said she passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones.
Born Oct. 27, 1930, in Sutherland, Virginia, West overcame the racial and economic barriers of the Jim Crow South to become one of the few Black women working in advanced mathematics and satellite science in her era. She graduated first in her high school class, earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics from Virginia State College (now Virginia State University), and began a career in 1956 at the U.S. Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.
During her more than four decades with the Navy, West developed mathematical models of the Earth’s shape using early satellite data — complex calculations that became the backbone of what is now the Global Positioning System. Her work enabled precise satellite orbit determinations and is credited with shaping modern navigation systems used worldwide.
Though her contributions were not widely recognized for many years, West later received numerous honors, including induction into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame and lifetime achievement awards celebrating her role in science and technology.
West’s career spanned a period of profound change in both computing and civil rights, and her legacy is reflected in the everyday use of technologies that rely on GPS — from emergency responders and commercial transportation to personal navigation on mobile devices.