James Francis Goble: What happened to Katherine Johnson’s husband?

James Francis Goble was the husband of Katherine Johnson. James Francis Goble’s wife was famous as an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent U.S. crewed spaceflights. She earned a reputation for mastering complex manual calculations and helped pioneer the use of computers to perform tasks. She is regarded as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist”.

James Francis Goble: Bio Summary

Who was Katherine Johnson’s first husband?

Born on March 29, 1913, in Marion, Smyth County, Virginia, United States of America, James Francis Goble was the first husband of Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson. He was born as a son of Charles Jackson Goble, Sr., and Anna Thomas-Goble (Smith).

James Francis Goble was born into a small middle-class family. He was not the only child of the couple, he had six siblings- Helen Goble McClanahan, Charles Jackson Goble, Forrest Kelly Goble, Margaret G. Goble Epps, William Harry Goble, and David Bastein Goble.

James Francis Goble was a chemistry teacher.

While Katherine Johnson was known for breaking the barriers of age, race, and gender before any feminist movement, through her rigorous and supreme performance in manual calculations, and impeccable accuracy, her first husband was a chemistry teacher.

How did James and Katherine meet?

Not much is known about how Katherine and James met, however, they got married in 1939. After they tied the knot Katherine left her teaching job and enrolled in a graduate math program. She quit at the end of the first session and chose to focus on her family life. Together James Francis Goble and Katherine Johnson had three daughters- Joylette Goble, Constance Goble, and Katherine Goble.

ALSO, READ; Constance Goble: Everything About Katherine Johnson’s daughter

What happened to Katherine Johnson’s first husband?

James Francis Goble sadly died of an inoperable brain tumor on December 20, 1956, at the age of 43. To provide for her children, Katherine quit school and returned to teaching. However, during a trip to visit relatives in Newport News, Virginia in 1952, her sister and brother-in-law told her they believed that opportunities were opening up for black women in mathematics at a nearby aeronautics research facility. The next week, the Gobles relocated so Katherine could pursue her dream.

Three years after the death of James Francis Goble, Katherine married James A. “Jim” Johnson, a United States Army officer and veteran of the Korean War; the pair were married for 60 years until his death in March 2019 at the age of 93. Katherine also died in 2021, February 24 at the age of 101.

Being the husband of a groundbreaking scientist James Goble supported his wife in every way he could to make her a successful pioneering genius female mind of America. Apollo 11, one of the major highlights, her impeccable calculations made other planets like Mercury and Earth’s orbit in space accessible to Earth folks.

This contribution made by Katherine Johnson was critical to the success of NASA’s attempt on crewed space flights and basically, every subsequent discovery made by NASA. She was called an “American Academic Hero”, and basically a “Computer” who pioneered a legacy in calculations. In 2015, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

James Francis Goble’s wife, Katherine retired from NASA after serving in NASA’s flight research division for 33 years in 1986. She would have remained unheralded if not for the movie released recently. Her contributions were appreciated through the feature film “Hidden Figures” in February 2016.

ALSO, READ; Joylette Goble- Everything about Katherine Johnson’s daughter

This movie portrayed Katherine Johnson and her late colleagues, whose contributions were significant milestones in making America a great nation in terms of research and development. The movie received a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for three Oscar awards.

Katherine was the only person alive among her cohort to appear onstage with the cast at the Academy Awards ceremony. Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility also caused a roar in 2017. In addition to that, she released an autobiography “Reaching for the Moon” written by herself three years back. All of these exposures she had repeatedly made mentions of her first husband James Francis Goble. This was the reason why James has been in the limelight after sixty-four years of his death.