Hayden Bowen
Contributor
Ellen Turner, an adjunct science faculty member and collaborator on researching the life of Dorothy McFadden Hoover, spoke on March 5 about the history and accomplishments of Hoover. Hoover was a trailblazer for African American women, being one of the “hidden figures,” a term made popular from the book of the same name written by Margot Lee Shetterly about the African American women that helped NACA (later NASA) reach the moon. Turner, a former resident of Hope, the same town where Hoover grew up, discussed her personal connections to Hoover as well as the obstacles Hoover had to overcome.
Turner first established the history and systems that made it hard for Hoover to be successful as a mathematician. The first obstacle that Hoover faced was the limited technology in Hope, as well as the limited technological advancement in the world when Hoover was growing up. Turner explained that “telephones were only in a third of the American households in 1918.” Turner explained that a device that we hold to be so important now, was an absolute luxury during Hoover’s time. Another obstacle Hoover faced was discrimination prevalent across the nation at that time.
Turner then explained how education was such a large part of Hoover’s life, with that being a core value of her family to this day. Turner proclaimed most of Hoover’s success was because of a man named Henry Clay Yerger, an educator with whom Turner has personal connections. Turner noted, “Professor Henry Clay Yerger was actually born in slavery in my great, great grandfather’s household.” Turner further explained the importance of Yerger to Hoover’s story by saying that Yerger created one of the first successful African American high school in Arkansas. Hoover graduated from Yerger’s school at age 15 and attended Arkansas AM&N (now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff) where she graduated four years later with a degree in math. Afterwards, Hoover went to Atlanta University where she earned a master’s degree in mathematics and wrote her thesis called “Some Projectile Transformations and Their Applications,” putting Hoover on the path of aeronautics.
In 1943, two years after graduating, Hoover was hired as one of the first six African American women described as human computers for NACA. Hoover’s job was to write equations but was immediately promoted to assistant supervisor. Hoover then moved to the Ames laboratory where she would become the first woman to co-author a paper with aeronautical scientists. Turner described the team’s work this way: “What these people were doing and were responsible for developing is what we call the thin swept-back wing that we see in every plane.” Hoover’s job was revolutionizing aerospace science as we know it, and developing the designs that we use to this day. Turner also noted not only Hoover’s importance to Arkansas, but also for NWACC and the Spring Arts and Culture Festival. “The theme of Arts and Culture Festival this year is translation, and that’s what they were doing,” she said. “They were developing new mathematical formulas which translated all that you needed to know about flight.”
After her work in NACA, Hoover moved back to Arkansas in 1952 and became the first woman of any race to get a Master of Physics at the University of Arkansas. After getting her master’s, Hoover pursued education at another university in Michigan, but didn’t finish and instead moved to Washington, D.C., where she was hired as a senior mathematician for what we know now as the National Weather Service. Hoover worked there to develop the mathematical models that help drive modern meteorology. Hoover worked for the remainder of her career as a mathematician at Goddard Space Flight Center.
Turner discussed how much she learned about Dorothy through the relationships she has built with Hoover’s family through this investigation. Hoover apparently could not talk with her family about much of her work because it was deemed “top secret” at the time. It was because of this secrecy then that Turner wants to make sure that Hoover’s story is told now. To that end, Turner contributed to an entry published last year on the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Hoover also was named in 2023 to Arkansas Women’s Hall of Fame.
Peter Miller, a student who observed Turner’s presentation, stated, “It was interesting how many things Dorothy had done in her life, how interested she was in learning especially and that she really had a big impact on history that I did not know about at all.” Turner continues to investigate Hoover’s life and said she wishes that her speech at the festival helps spread awareness to such an important figure in Arkansas history.
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