![]() "We started working with satellite data a lot because there are different stations, satellite stations placed all around the world and they would get data in and we would have to code algorithms to sort of verify the data that we were receiving, and then I worked some with geoid Heis because they were trying to measure exactly where the satellite was and where things were and so I did- geoid Heis had to do with the undulations in the water and so fine-tuning, it was fine-tuning that measurement, that distance from the satellite," West said. West worked on verifying satellites' exact location by looking at data that was transmitted through computer software that processed geoid heights, or precise surface elevations. So the different people who did civilian applications learned to use the database that we generated and that was the foundation that GPS was built on." ![]() "A lot goes into the scientific computation to generate an orbit which is a database used in GPS. "My part in the global positioning system would be working more with over the water," West said. Gladys Mae West pictured at Dahlgren with Sam Smith in 1985 reviewing data from the Global Positioning System she helped develop. The results of the work she did eventually led to the creation of GPS.ĭr. So we had to learn how to program and code for this big computer," West said. We hadn't had any computer teaching or knowledge, so we had to master this job that they wanted us to do. "At the same time that we were coming to work here they were also bringing in a large computer and they brought in these mathematicians to learn to work this computer. ![]() West continued programming large-scale computers in the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and worked as a project manager for data-processing systems used for information gathered by satellites. "That was the biggest computer in the Navy at the time that they installed, so that was exciting because it was so fast and you could code much larger programs," West recalled. Eventually, a computer was installed and she took the role of being its programmer. Navy)Īt the beginning of her career, West worked as a mathematician that verified tables, calculating everything by hand. Gladys Mae West and her husband, Ira West (U.S.
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