“Hidden Figures” Oscars Nods are a Win for Women, Diversity and STEM
By: Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, IBM Chief Diversity Officer
Riding a number of successful weeks at the box office, “Hidden Figures” received three Oscar nominations this week, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay.
These nominations are more than a win for the film’s director, actors, producers, writers and crew — they’re a win for women, diversity, and STEM.
“Hidden Figures” tells the true story of three African American who were the unsung heroes of the 1960’s NASA Space Race. Working at NASA’s Langley Memorial Research Lab, these women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, were responsible for calculating the orbit of the first astronaut in space. At the time, they were simply referred to as ‘computers.’ “Hidden Figures” tells the story pushing their way through barriers and stereotypes as black females in engineering, mathematics, and science.
Though the film takes place in the 1960s, its significance is just as powerful today, as proven by its nominations and performance in theaters across the country. It promotes the need for diversity in STEM — according to the National Science Board, women only make up 29% of science and engineering workforce and that number is even lower for women of color. “
Hidden Figures” inspires girls and boys of every background that they can defy racial and gender stereotypes to achieve any goal they want to become an engineer, a scientist, or maybe even an astronaut.
At IBM, we’re honored to not only have our mainframe make a guest appearance in the film, but to promote a film with such an important underlying message. We are committed to STEM and fostering a company-wide culture that accepts and celebrates diversity, acceptance, and inclusion — from our commitment to LGBT equality to the Tech Re-entry program that helps women who have temporarily left their jobs to ease back into the workplace. We hope the film inspires a new generation of technologists who will want to create innovations as significant as reaching the moon.
To help further education about the men and women who have made huge advancements in STEM, we teamed up with The New York Times’ T Brand Studio to create the “Outthink Hidden” app. Powered by augmented reality, the app displays 3D images, descriptive text, video and audio on the three women in “Hidden Figures” as well as other STEM pioneers like Bessie Bloutn Griffin, who invented a feeding device for injured World War II veterans, and Charles Drew, who created the first large-scale blood bank in the U.S. The app activates at popular locations in major U.S. cities, at notable STEM centers including NASA Langley, STEM universities, or online at IBM.com/hiddenfigures.
Today, the emergence of cognitive computing is driving the next chapter in man-and-machine innovation. NASA is exploring ways to use Watson for projects ranging from designing next-generation space craft, to studying how Watson can help monitor the health of astronauts in space.
Learn more about these historical figures on iTunes and Google Play now, and be sure to catch Hidden Figures. We’ll be tuning in to the Oscars on February 26th!
