The Virginia Native Is Credited With Her Work at the Naval Proving Ground, Calculated Ways to Model the Shape of the Earth
Mathematician Gladys West, whose calculations helped lay the foundation for the Global Positioning System (GPS), has died at the age of 95. West passed away Saturday, January 17, leaving behind a legacy that quietly reshaped modern navigation and technology used daily around the world.
West was born Gladys Mae Brown on October 27, 1930, in Sutherland, Virginia. Raised in the Jim Crow South, she worked on her family’s tobacco farm while excelling academically. Her academic achievements earned her the title of valedictorian at her high school and a scholarship to Virginia State University, then known as Virginia State College. There, she earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematics and became a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She later earned an additional master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma.
In 1956, West was hired by the Naval Proving Ground in Dahlgren, Virginia, now called the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. She was only the second African American woman hired at the facility and one of just four African American employees at the time.
Her work focused on collecting and analyzing satellite data to determine the precise shape of the Earth, a critical component in the development of satellite-based navigation systems that would eventually become GPS.
At the time, West did not anticipate how widely her work would be used beyond military applications. Reflecting on her career in a 2025 interview with Virginia Mercury, she said, “It never gets too old. I am just so pleased that I was able to make a contribution. When I was working, I never imagined that the GPS would be used in the civilian world. I love seeing all the ways that it can be used and I probably have no idea how vastly used it is.”
West met her husband, Ira West, also a mathematician, while working at Dahlgren. The two married in 1957 and had three children and seven grandchildren. Ira West died in 2024.
In a 2018 interview with the BBC, West reflected on the pressure she felt as a trailblazer in a field with few women and even fewer African Americans. “I carried that load around, thinking that I had to be the best that I could be,” she said. “Always doing things just right, to set an example for other people who were coming behind me, especially women.”
Even after retiring, West continued to pursue education. At age 70, she enrolled at Virginia Tech to earn a doctorate. She completed her PhD despite suffering a stroke and facing other serious health challenges.
In 2018, the Virginia General Assembly honored West with a resolution recognizing her 42-year career at Dahlgren, her contributions to satellite technology, and her commitment to lifelong learning. She later co-authored a memoir with M.H. Jackson titled It Began With a Dream, documenting her journey from rural Virginia to becoming one of the key figures behind one of the most widely used technologies in the modern world.
