Mother of GPS, Gladys West, Finally Gets Proper Recognition

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Did you use GPS today to get to a meeting or the dentist or a lunch date? You can thank a little-known woman named Gladys West. Many have never heard of this African American female scientist but in fact, she was a pioneering trailblazer decades ago, well before her time.

One woman is determined to change all that. Jane Plitt is founder and board chair of National Center of Women’s Innovations. After two years of unearthing information about this unique figure, Plitt has introduced Gladys West to Alexandria. Last Friday March 7, she unveiled the interactive display at the brand-new Virginia Tech Innovation Campus in Potomac Yard.

Gladys West and her husband Ira were both mathematicians at Dahlgren Naval Base, then called Dahlgren Naval Proving Ground. West was hired in 1956. Her extraordinary contributions to the geodetic modeling of the earth became the foundation for the Global Positioning System (GPS). But few knew how much this Black woman changed the way we navigate. In fact, some of the speakers at the Virginia Tech launch had only recently learned of Gladys West’s achievements.

Plitt is on a mission to bring long-overdue recognition to Dr. Gladys West.

“Her impact on the world was clear,” Plitt told The Zebra a few days after the exhibit launch. “GPS is commonplace, used by most people to get them where they need to get to. While we delight in GPS, we had no idea who to thank. Except this voice. This anonymous voice on our machines.”

In the summer of 2023, Plitt was introduced to Dr. West, a few months after Plitt got her organization off the ground. The luncheon took place just months before the group’s inaugural gala in October 2023. That evening affair went on to honor Dr. West, who at 93, traveled to Alexandria to receive the award.

The scientist who lived in obscurity had humble beginnings as a poor black Virginia farm girl.  “She overcame great odds in the era in which she grew up, which was certainly full of Jim Crow limitations for African Americans, let alone for women,” Plitt explained. “And through persistence, education, and mentorship, Gladys West ultimately changed the world.”

Local officials and government leaders gathered at the new Virginia Tech campus for the official launch. The exhibit shines a spotlight on West’s pioneering work.

The Zebra had the opportunity to chat with the children of Dr. Gladys West. Carolyn West Oglesby shared, “I’m just so happy that Jane has been able to bring this to fruition. I can’t wait to bring Mom here!” Oglesby recalled her upbringing. “I was influenced by mom, by her work ethic, her work habits. She always worked hard. But we didn’t know anything about this until 2018 when it came out. Everything she did was secretive.“

Didn’t mom say anything when you used GPS?” Zebra asked.  “She was concentrating on her map in the backseat!” Oglesby laughed.

David West, Dr. West’s son, added, “To me, it was just mom. We had no clue that she was doing this. She was a wonderful mother, very firm, strict, made sure that we were on the straight and narrow. She taught us to be the best and try to be good citizens, you know, be children of God. That’s how we were raised.”

Dr. Gladys West was born in 1930 during the height of segregation. But she excelled at mathematics and was selected to be her high school valedictorian, which won her a scholarship to Virginia State College. In the 1980’s, she led the development of a mathematical model of the world that provided the framework for GPS.

That the exhibit launched a day before International Women’s Day was not lost on the speakers. Caren Merrick is Virginia secretary of commerce and trade. After her keynote presentation, she shared some reflections with  Zebra.

“This event really does illustrate what’s possible here in Virginia, but it also illustrates the untold stories that we have of so many women. And it is Woman’s History Month and we need to identify, celebrate, and amplify women like Dr. Gladys West.”

Merrick emphasized West’s strong Virginia ties. “This is the ideal event to celebrate Virginia and Virginians and innovation in Virginia because Gladys West went to Virginia institutions and then she worked at Dahlgren, a very important Virginia business-centered, defense-centered, science-centered institution here in Virginia that we’re all proud of,” she told Zebra.

West, who lives with her daughter Carolyn in Fredericksburg, was unable to attend the exhibit, but two of her three children and her grandson traveled here for the unveiling.

Andre Jones, Dr. West’s grandson, expressed his gratitude. “You don’t often get to meet your superheroes, and I got to grow up with two of them, my grandfather and grandmother. My grandmother worked so hard and tirelessly to make an impact on her job. She just wanted to be the best at her job. She wanted to make her family proud and she wanted to overcome her surroundings and she wanted to rise above and she worked non-stop.”

West never sought recognition or accolades, “never bragged,” Jones concluded.

Lance Collins, executive director of the Alexandria campus, took time out from his busy schedule getting the new graduate program up and running to address the crowd. Collins, the first African American dean of engineering in his prior position at Cornell University remarked, “West was pioneering work at a time when people who looked like her, both female and African American, just weren’t working in those fields. What a remarkable story and inspiration to all of us.” Collins noted that Black History month segued into Women’s History Month, a fitting tribute to Gladys West.

You can see the Gladys West exhibit at Virginia Tech Innovation Campus Monday to Friday, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm and Saturday 10 -4pm until the end of June. Denver Colorado is the next stop on the tour.