Defense & Military

‘Hidden Figure’ Gladys West, GPS pioneer and Navy civilian, dies at 95

January 22, 2026 at 02:01Z
BIAS: Center
RELIABILITY: High

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Military Times
19:14Z

Gladys Mae West, whose mathematical work became the integral foundation for modern GPS, has died. West, surrounded by family and friends, passed away peacefully on Jan. 17.

She was 95. Born in rural Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1930, West sought to leave her family farm from the beginning. “I guess I found that a little bit contrary to what I had in my mind of where I wanted to go,” she told the BBC in 2018 .

For most living in the Jim Crow South, career options were limited, but West didn’t want to stay and pick tobacco, corn or cotton for a living — or work in the nearby factory beating tobacco leaves into pieces for cigarettes and pipes. One of the “hidden figures” in American history, West’s mind took her far from her life in rural Virginia. “I thought at first I needed to go to the

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Reliability
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