Hidden Figures

by

Margot Lee Shetterly

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Hidden Figures makes teaching easy.
John Glenn is an astronaut and the first American to orbit the Earth. Confident, charismatic and well-prepared for his role, he represents the American dream of spaceflight and technological prowess. He helps make Katherine Johnson famous among her peers after he chooses her to double-check the electronic computer’s calculations for his trajectory into and back from space.

John Glenn Quotes in Hidden Figures

The Hidden Figures quotes below are all either spoken by John Glenn or refer to John Glenn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and Inequality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 21 Quotes

Many years later, Katherine Johnson would say it was just luck that of all the computers being sent to engineering groups, she was the one sent to the Flight Research Division to work with the core of the team staffed on an adventure that hadn’t yet been conceived. But simple luck is the random birthright of the hapless. When seasoned by the subtleties of accident, harmony, favor, wisdom, and inevitability, luck takes on the cast of serendipity. Serendipity happens when a well-trained mind looking for one thing encounters something else: the unexpected. It comes from being in a position to seize opportunity from the happy marriage of time, place, and chance. It was serendipity that called her in the countdown to John Glenn's flight.

Related Characters: Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, John Glenn
Page Number: 220
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Hidden Figures LitChart as a printable PDF.
Hidden Figures PDF

John Glenn Quotes in Hidden Figures

The Hidden Figures quotes below are all either spoken by John Glenn or refer to John Glenn. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Racism and Inequality Theme Icon
).
Chapter 21 Quotes

Many years later, Katherine Johnson would say it was just luck that of all the computers being sent to engineering groups, she was the one sent to the Flight Research Division to work with the core of the team staffed on an adventure that hadn’t yet been conceived. But simple luck is the random birthright of the hapless. When seasoned by the subtleties of accident, harmony, favor, wisdom, and inevitability, luck takes on the cast of serendipity. Serendipity happens when a well-trained mind looking for one thing encounters something else: the unexpected. It comes from being in a position to seize opportunity from the happy marriage of time, place, and chance. It was serendipity that called her in the countdown to John Glenn's flight.

Related Characters: Katherine Coleman Goble Johnson, John Glenn
Page Number: 220
Explanation and Analysis: