Gladys West, mathematician whose work paved the way for GPS, dies at 95

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January 3, 2026

Bill Chappell, NPR

Gadys West, smiling at the camera — Dr. Gladys West is inducted into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame during a ceremony in her honor at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6, 2018. (Adrian Cadiz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

She navigated segregation to become an esteemed mathematician — and today, her work helps billions of people navigate the world.

Gladys West, whose pioneering career contributed key elements to what became the GPS satellite system and was later acknowledged as a “hidden figure” of GPS, died Saturday at age 95.

West “passed peacefully alongside her family and friends and is now in heaven with her loved ones,” her family said as they announced her death.

West is credited with astounding accomplishments in mathematics, playing pivotal roles in charting orbital trajectories and creating accurate mathematical models of the Earth’s shape that would eventually be used by the GPS satellite orbit.

Learn more about West’s life.

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