Women's History Month: South Arkansas' Hidden Figure

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Dorothy Hoover

Dorothy Hoover, an aeronautical research scientist, provided the mathematical equations necessary to design swept-back jet plane wings that allowed supersonic speed while maintaining stability. Later, she worked as a mathematician, solving mathematical problems for the theoretical division at the Goddard Space Flight Center during the America race into space.

A native of Hope, Arkansas, Hoover earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1938 from Arkansas AM&N, now the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and then a master's degree from Atlanta University before taking a job as a mathematician at Langley Research Center. Hoover worked with Robert T. Jones, the premier aeronautical engineer of the century, on development of swept-back wings and co-authored a research report on supersonic lift and tapered wings. By the time she left Langley, her job title was aeronautical research scientist.

Hoover came to the U of A in 1953 just as the university started integration. In 1954, she and another student became the first Black women to earn master's degrees from the university. Hoover was the only student to earn a Master of Arts in physics that year. While at the university, she wrote a research paper, "On Estimates of Error in Numerical Integration," that was published in the Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science. After graduation, she then received a John Hay Whitney Foundation Opportunity Fellowship to pursue doctoral work at the University of Michigan.

Find out more about Dorothy Hoover at the Encyclopedia of Arkansas History or listen to a story on KUAF about her life.