Template:POTD/2023-07-21
Jeanette Scissum is an American mathematician, space scientist, and diversity advocate. Born in Guntersville, Alabama, she gained bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics at Alabama A&M University. After a brief teaching career, Scissum joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in 1964, as an entry-level mathematician, the first African-American mathematician to be employed there. Her career achievements included techniques for improved forecasting of the sunspot cycle and leading activities in Marshall's Atmospheric, Magnetospheric, and Plasmas in Space project. After returning to Alabama A&M to complete a PhD, Scissum worked at the Goddard Space Flight Center as a computer systems analyst. This NASA photograph shows Scissum at her desk at Marshall Space Flight Center in the 1960s or 1970s.Photograph credit: NASA; restored by Adam Cuerden