Virginia Norwood is the inventor of the Landsat program, which is a technique of capturing photographs of the Earth from space- Have you heard the name of Virginia Norwood? Only a few people know her, who recognize Norwood. If you haven’t heard about her, this content is for you.
Norwood was one of the most significant women in the aerospace field who discovered the Landsat satellite program to monitor the Earth’s surface. According to The New York Times, she passed away on March 27 at the age of 96.
In the field where men dominate, she struggled a lot and achieved success. Even though she graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, many employers did not offer her a job despite her talent, but instead chose a man with fewer qualifications.
According to The New York Times, once, a Sikorsky Aircraft offered her a salary that was lower than the lowest-paid employee in the government service, which was considered a violation of the salary policy. She also applied for a job at another food lab but was asked to guarantee that she would not become pregnant as a condition of employment, so she withdrew her application. In an interview, a gun manufacturer Remington praised her thinking for the job, but the company ultimately decided to hire a man instead.
After experiencing numerous ups and downs in life, Norwood’s future took a turn when he began working at the American Signal Corps Laboratory. There, he designed radar reflectors for the use of Weather Balloons (a technique used for weather forecasting and research).
He then worked at the Sylvania Electronic Defense Labs, where he established the company’s first antenna laboratory. His career continued to reach new heights when he worked with a small group of women at the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1950. While working there, she was recognized as a problem solver for all kinds of issues.
In the second half of the 1960s, Norwood wanted to manage Earth resources through the management of geological surveys and took photos of Earth from space. He collaborated with NASA for this purpose. This opportunity was a turning point in Norwood’s life, as she was working in Hughes’ Space and Communications Division.
To record the spectra of light and energy for this project, she started developing a scanner to collect feedback from agricultural, weather, and earth science experts. She took the design of the technology used for observing agriculture and took it to the Geological Survey to use it to study the Earth. Norwood’s work changed the face of earth sciences and made it possible for the United States Geological Survey to gather information on the Earth on a global scale.
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