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Up until she died in 2009, she worked hard to make a difference. This self-driven, determined, and extremely intelligent inventor's legacy lives on, including her character and her awards that she earned.
Valerie also touched peoples lives directly. She mentored young students through the National Technical Association (NTA) and Science Mathematics Aerospace Research (S.M.A.R.T).
Valerie received two awards for her devotion to her science filled career:
1.) the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Award of Merit
2.) the NASA Equal Opportunity Medal
Did Her Invention Impact Today's Society?
Valerie went on to use a similar technology in the computer programs at NASA that were researching Hailey's Comet, ozone hole studies, and the voyager satellite development.
Now scientists are currently working on tools, utilizing Valerie's method, that would allow surgeons to look inside the human body. Her method has also been prevalent in making 3-D television and movies come to life!
Accomplishing Her Many Goals
In 1976, after attending an exhibition, she saw how concave mirrors create images that appear to be real, unlike flat mirrors, and began to investigate. She started experimenting with equipment and by taking notes on the relationships between the concave mirrors, the actual objects, and the relative images. She believed if she could create an actual 3-D image illusion, it would later affect society in many ways. In 1980 she received a patent for what she now called an illusion transmitter which uses two concave mirrors opposite to each other, one on the transmitting end, and one on the receiving end. This invention would be the doorway to many others that would utilize her newly founded technology.
After graduating college, Thomas became the mathematician/data analyst for NASA. Later on she served in a managing position for NASA's image processing systems for '' Landsat''. Landsat was the first satellite to send images from outer space. Later in her career she also held positions such as the space physics analysis network (SPAN) manager and the chief of space science data operations .
Valerie Thomas, an African- American, born in May 1943, was always interested in science...
As a child she grew up with her father, tinkering with anything from old radios to cameras and other electronic devices. This sparked her interest in technology and science. At age 8 she learned more about electronics from reading the book '' The Boys First Book on Electronics''.
Valerie went to an all girls school where, due to that time period, she was not taught or encouraged to learn math and science. So, in effect, she taught herself. She went on to attend Morgan State University where she was one of the only two women majoring in physics.