Mary Golda Ross (1908-2008) was an American aerospace engineer, the first female engineer of the Cherokee Nation. A pioneer of astronautics, she took part in the founding work of the American space and defense programs at Lockheed.
Mary Golda Ross(1908 — 2008)
Mary G. Ross
États-Unis
6 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born on August 9, 1908, in Park Hill (Oklahoma), great-great-granddaughter of Cherokee chief John Ross
- Earned a master's degree in mathematics in 1938
- Joined Lockheed in 1942 and became one of the 40 founding engineers of the secret Skunk Works group in 1952
- Contributed to spaceflight studies toward Mars and Venus and to NASA's space planning handbook
- Died on April 29, 2008, at the age of 99
Works & Achievements
Solving technical problems on one of the major fighter aircraft of the Second World War, among her first contributions at Lockheed.
Selected from about forty engineers for Lockheed's most secret innovation team, dedicated to cutting-edge projects.
Research on missile design and trajectories during the Cold War, at the heart of the arms race.
Contribution to the work on this upper rocket stage that would play a key role in American space programs.
Pioneering trajectory calculations for flyby missions to neighboring planets, at a time when space exploration was only just beginning.
Participation in a NASA reference manual detailing the space routes to Mars and Venus.
Anecdotes
Mary Golda Ross was the great-great-granddaughter of John Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokee Nation who led his people during the tragic “Trail of Tears.” She grew up in Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, in a family that valued education for girls as much as for boys.
Throughout her studies and her career, Mary was almost always the only woman — and often the only Native American — in the room. “I was the only girl in my class. I sat on one side of the room and the boys on the other,” she recalled, never letting it intimidate her.
At Lockheed, Mary was part of an elite team so secretive that it was nicknamed the “Skunk Works.” She described her late-night work this way: “Often there were four of us working until eleven at night. My state-of-the-art tools were a slide rule and a Friden calculator.” The projects were so confidential that she couldn't talk about them, even decades later.
In 2004, at the age of 96, Mary took part in the opening procession of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, dressed in a traditional green Cherokee dress she had chosen herself. It was a public tribute to her dual identity as a cutting-edge engineer and a Cherokee woman.
In 2019, the United States honored Mary Golda Ross on a one-dollar coin in its Native American series. It depicts her portrait as she writes, an Atlas-Agena rocket lifting off, an astronaut, and symbols of the Cherokee writing system — a rare tribute to an engineer and mathematician.
Primary Sources
Often, at night, there were four of us working until 11 p.m. I was the one pushing the pencil, doing a lot of research. My state-of-the-art tools were a slide rule and a Friden calculator.
I was the only girl in the class. I sat on one side of the room and the men on the other.
A NASA technical manual devoted to flight trajectories to Mars and Venus, to which Mary Ross contributed, laying the mathematical foundations for interplanetary missions.
To function effectively in today's world, you need mathematics. The world is so technical that a background in math will let you go further and faster.
Key Places
Village near Tahlequah, in the heart of the Cherokee Nation, where Mary Golda Ross was born in 1908.
Capital of the Cherokee Nation, where Mary studied and earned her bachelor's degree in mathematics at Northeastern State Teachers College.
Home of the Colorado State College of Education, where Mary earned her master's degree in mathematics in 1938.
Historic site of the Lockheed aircraft company, where Mary worked for more than thirty years, notably within the famous Skunk Works.
City in the San Francisco Bay Area where Mary spent her final years and died in 2008, at the age of 99.
Museum inaugurated in 2004 on the National Mall; Mary marched there in a Cherokee dress and bequeathed part of her estate to it.
