Mary Sherman Morgan
Ink and watercolor on 9″ x 12″ watercolor paper
The latest addition to the ‘She Changed the World’ Collection!
Mary Sherman (1921-2004) helped get the human race into outer space. Mary grew up in North Dakota, where she was her high school’s valedictorian, then went on to major in chemistry at Minot State University. While at school World War Two broke out and she was recruited by the US government. Moving to Sandusky, Ohio before finishing school. The job turned out to be the manufacturing of explosives for the war effort.
Following the war, she was hired by North American Aviation for their Rocketdyne Division, and was quickly promoted to the role of Theoretical Performance Specialist. The job called on her to mathematically calculate the performance of new rocket propellants, and out of 900 employees with this task she was the only woman doing it. Mary met her husband George Morgan while working there.
During the ‘space race’ between the US and the Soviet Union, Mary and her team developed the new liquid propellant, Hydyne. This powerful fuel powered Juno I’s launch to place America’s first satellite, Explorer I into orbit on January 31, 1958.