• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Women's Legacy Project
  • Home
  • About
  • How To Curate
  • Our Collective Legacy
  • Writing Online Memoir
  • Blog
Women's Legacy Project > Blog > KNOW > Information and Tech > Happy Pi Day & Women's History Month

Happy Pi Day & Women's History Month

Written by: womenslegacy
Published: March 14, 2014 -- Last Modified: March 14, 2014
2 Comments

Pi Day

Pi is pronounced just like pie.  Pi is a transcendental number, and  represents the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.  Why is March 14th Pi Day?  The 14th day of March is written, in the United States, as 3-14.  Three point one four is often how pi is abbreviated although it has been calculated out to 10 trillion digits.

Celebrate Reason & Women

I love science, and although math is not my strong suit, I love the concept of Pi Day in all its nerdy glory.
At this particular time in history, I think it is more important than ever to celebrate knowledge.
This month is Women’s History Month, and Makers is honoring Katherine Johnson, a mathematician – I like their film interview with her, and I recommend watching it at makers.com/katherine-johnson
If you don’t know who she is, you have been missing a wonderful story of  behind-the-scenes history that is the perfect melding of mathematical history and women’s history.  There are so many aspects of her story that elucidate unspoken, or glossed over, truths in our culture.  I am fascinated by this pioneering womann research mathematician.
But a series of video interviews with Mrs. Johnson are also available on You Tube.  I include two below.

Katherine Johnson: Working at NASA:
Katherine Johnson: America’s First Space Flight:


I knew I had run across found an image of woman mathematician while hunting through government archives for retro women’s stories.  But I couldn’t find it.  I knew it was a public domain photo I used for something last year.  It was driving me crazy.  So I went to Pinterest and I found the pic!

c9105176aa575687f078806977cd554a

This photo is of Melba Roy, NASA Mathmetician, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland in 1964. II suspect that she worked with Katherine Johnson.


This is all so relevant today.  The talk of black men engineers having a hard time at Langley (pre-NASA ) while black women were preferred in their jobs and the talk of working on planes and black boxes in the early days of flight data recorders perfectly flowed with the news coverage, at least the MSNBC news coverage I was watching as I wrote this post.

And That Indiana Pi Thing

Oh and I almost forgot.  I always mention the silly Indiana slip-up where they attempted to legislate the value of  pi to the 3 in the late 1800s.  They would have done it and left it that way if not for a Purdue Professor.  (Go Boilers!)

Fortunately, this vote took place the same day the head of Perdue University’s Mathematics Department, Clarence Waldo was at the statehouse securing funds for the University’s budget. When he heard the assembly was discussing mathematics, he listened in and was amazed. He spent the rest of the day educating Indiana senators on geometry and properties of transcendental numbers. His lessons were effective enough that the bill died on the Senate floor on February 11. — Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D. on About.com

Now go enjoy Pi Day!

pi day

Categories: Information and TechTags: 3/14, Indiana, Katherine Johnson, mathematics, Pi, Pi Day

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.org
Previous Post: « Wordless Wednesday – Art Nouveau Graphics from 1917
Next Post: A is for April and an Abject Attitude »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carol Cassara (

    March 14, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    I’m thinking of pie. Err…I mean PI!

    Reply
    • Nancy Hill

      March 20, 2014 at 12:19 pm

      Pi, pie, it is now Spring! Have some Pie!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badgeShow more posts

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Footer

Recent Posts

  • Ending, and Beginning
  • For Our Daughters
  • Stand and Write
  • Context and Little Things
  • A Month is Just a Month… as Time Goes By
  • Processing Two Very Different Deaths
  • A Dehydrated and Delusional Friend Found Wandering in 100° Heat
  • About Women’s Legacy & Hill Research
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

Archives

Powered by
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
View my Flipboard Magazine.

© 2023, Nancy Hill, Women's Legacy Project of Hill Research Services, LLC

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Reject Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT