"Dr. Gladys B. West played an integral role in the development of the Global Positioning System (GPS) while serving as a mathematician with Navy. Born in the poor farming community of Sutherland, Virginia, she rose from poverty despite segregation, The Great Depression, and Jim Crow laws, to become one of the first professional black women hired at the Dahlgren (Va.) Naval Proving Grounds (now Dahlgren Surface Naval Warfare Center)".--Publisher.

As part of a team of mathematicians who studied the earth's geometric shape (geoid), Gladys West contributed by coding and programing satellite data for engineers at Dahlgren Surface Naval Warfare Center. She calculated formulas involving gravity, radar, and the planet's dimensions, which were used to established the modern GPS technology.