Christine Darden

Cristine Darden led the research around the sound barrier.

Christine Darden was born and raised in Monroe, North Carolina and graduated as the valedictorian of Winchester Avenue High School in 1958. She got a scholarship to attend Hampton Institute and she graduated with a degree in mathematics education and a teaching certificate in 1962.

For the next few years, Christine taught high school math in Virginia while pursuing a Master’s degree in applied mathematics from Virginia State College. After she received her degree in 1967, Christine began working as a data analyst at NASA’s Langley Research Center. While working at NASA, Christine was working on research for her Doctorate of Science in fluid mechanics and was promoted to aerospace engineer at the company.

Christine thrived at NASA. She worked as a team lead on the Sonic Boom research program. As the time, sonic boom research was cutting edge. A sonic boom occurs when an aircraft moves faster than the speed of sound. As the name suggests, there is a very loud sound associated with this speed. There was a lot of research in this field because planes were regularly improved and engineers wanted to decrease the sound made by a sonic boom.

In 1999, Christine was promoted to director of the Program Management Office of the Aerospace Performing Center. In addition to her role at NASA, Christine consulted on numerous research papers throughout her career. During her time at NASA, Christine received the Certificate of Outstanding Performance on ten occasions. She retired from her 40 year career in 2007. In 2023, Christine was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

Learn more about Christine Darden through her HistoryMakers profile, the page features interviews and more!