Born October 27, 1930,Gladys West is still alive. Gladys west was the valedictorian of her high school graduating class, which got her a full scholarship to Virginia State College.She earned a degree in math in 1952, returned for a master's degree too, and graduated in 1955.She earned another master's degree in 1973 from the University of Oklahoma and got a PhD in public administration and policy affairs from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 2000. Her major contribution was working on Seasat and Geosat, which lead to her creating an early model of the GPS, which could precisely calculate the orbits of satellites. Because of her making this, the GPS system can make accurate calculations of any place on Earth.She also built the Naval Ordinance Research Calculator (NORC) to determine movements of Pluto relative to Neptune.Gladys West is a true inspiration and a major figure in the advancement of computer science.