[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1396 Enrolled Bill (ENR)]

        H.R.1396

                     One Hundred Sixteenth Congress

                                 of the

                        United States of America


                          AT THE FIRST SESSION

          Begun and held at the City of Washington on Thursday,
           the third day of January, two thousand and nineteen


                                 An Act


 
    To award Congressional Gold Medals to Katherine Johnson and Dr. 
  Christine Darden, to posthumously award Congressional Gold Medals to 
  Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, and to award a Congressional Gold 
 Medal to honor all of the women who contributed to the success of the 
  National Aeronautics and Space Administration during the Space Race.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
    This Act may be cited as the ``Hidden Figures Congressional Gold 
Medal Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
    Congress finds the following:
        (1) In 1935, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 
    (referred to in this section as ``NACA'') hired five women to serve 
    as the first ``computer pool'' at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical 
    Laboratory where those women took on work making calculations that 
    male engineers had made previously.
        (2) During the 1940s, NACA began recruiting African-American 
    women to work as computers and initially separated those women from 
    their White counterparts in a group known as the ``West Area 
    Computers'' where the women were restricted to segregated dining 
    and bathroom facilities.
        (3) Katherine Johnson was born on August 26, 1918, in White 
    Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
        (4) In 1953, Katherine Johnson began her career in aeronautics 
    as a computer in the segregated West Area Computing unit described 
    in paragraph (2).
        (5) As a member of the Flight Research Division, Katherine 
    Johnson analyzed data from flight tests. After NACA was 
    reformulated into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration 
    (referred to in this section as ``NASA''), Katherine Johnson--
            (A) calculated the trajectory for Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 
        mission in 1961, which was the first human spaceflight by an 
        individual from the United States;
            (B) coauthored a report that provided the equations for 
        describing orbital spaceflight with a specified landing point, 
        which made her the first woman to be recognized as an author of 
        a report from the Flight Research Division;
            (C) was asked to verify the calculations when electronic 
        computers at NASA were used to calculate the orbit for John 
        Glenn's Friendship 7 mission; and
            (D) provided calculations for NASA throughout her career, 
        including for the Apollo missions.
        (6) Katherine Johnson retired from NASA in 1986.
        (7) Dr. Christine Darden was born on September 10, 1942, in 
    Monroe, North Carolina.
        (8) In 1962, Dr. Christine Darden graduated from Hampton 
    Institute with a B.S. in Mathematics and a teaching credential.
        (9) Dr. Christine Darden attended Virginia State University 
    where she studied aerosol physics and earned an M.S. in Applied 
    Mathematics.
        (10) Dr. Christine Darden began her career in aeronautics in 
    1967 as a data analyst at NASA's Langley Research Center (referred 
    to in this section as ``Langley'') before being promoted to 
    aerospace engineer in 1973. Her work in this position resulted in 
    the production of low-boom sonic effects, which revolutionized 
    aerodynamics design.
        (11) Dr. Christine Darden completed her education by earning a 
    Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from George Washington University 
    in 1983.
        (12) While working at NASA, Dr. Christine Darden--
            (A) was appointed to be the leader of the Sonic Boom Team, 
        which worked on designs to minimize the effects of sonic booms 
        by testing wing and nose designs for supersonic aircraft;
            (B) wrote more than 50 articles on aeronautics design; and
            (C) became the first African American to be promoted to a 
        position in the Senior Executive Service at Langley.
        (13) Dorothy Vaughan was born on September 20, 1910, in Kansas 
    City, Missouri.
        (14) Dorothy Vaughan began working for NACA in 1943. Dorothy 
    Vaughan--
            (A) started at NACA as a member of the West Area Computing 
        unit;
            (B) was promoted to be the head of the West Area Computing 
        unit, becoming NACA's first African-American supervisor, a 
        position that she held for 9 years; and
            (C) became an expert programmer in FORTRAN as a member of 
        NASA's Analysis and Computation Division.
        (15) Dorothy Vaughan retired from NASA in 1971 and died on 
    November 10, 2008.
        (16) Mary Jackson was born on April 9, 1921, in Hampton, 
    Virginia.
        (17) Mary Jackson started her career at NACA in 1951, working 
    as a computer as a member of the West Area Computing unit.
        (18) After petitioning the City of Hampton to allow her to take 
    graduate-level courses in math and physics at night at the all-
    White Hampton High School, Mary Jackson was able to complete the 
    required training to become an engineer, making her NASA's first 
    female African-American engineer.
        (19) Mary Jackson--
            (A) while at NACA and NASA--
                (i) worked in the Theoretical Aerodynamics Branch of 
            the Subsonic-Transonic Aerodynamics Division at Langley 
            where she analyzed wind tunnel and aircraft flight data; 
            and
                (ii) published a dozen technical papers that focused on 
            the boundary layer of air around airplanes; and
            (B) after 21 years working as an engineer at NASA, 
        transitioned to a new job as Langley's Federal Women's Program 
        Manager where she worked to improve the prospects of NASA's 
        female mathematicians, engineers, and scientists.
        (20) Mary Jackson retired from NASA in 1985 and died in 2005.
        (21) These four women, along with the other African-American 
    women in NASA's West Area Computing unit, were integral to the 
    success of the early space program. The stories of these four women 
    exemplify the experiences of hundreds of women who worked as 
    computers, mathematicians, and engineers at NACA beginning in the 
    1930s and their handmade calculations played an integral role in--
            (A) aircraft testing during World War II;
            (B) supersonic flight research;
            (C) sending the Voyager probes to explore the solar system; 
        and
            (D) the United States landing the first man on the lunar 
        surface.
SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL GOLD MEDALS.
    (a) Presentation Authorized.--The Speaker of the House of 
Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall make 
appropriate arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, 
of five gold medals of appropriate design as follows:
        (1) One gold medal to Katherine Johnson in recognition of her 
    service to the United States as a mathematician.
        (2) One gold medal to Dr. Christine Darden for her service to 
    the United States as an aeronautical engineer.
        (3) In recognition of their service to the United States during 
    the Space Race--
            (A) one gold medal commemorating the life of Dorothy 
        Vaughan; and
            (B) one gold medal commemorating the life of Mary Jackson.
        (4) One gold medal in recognition of all women who served as 
    computers, mathematicians, and engineers at the National Advisory 
    Committee for Aeronautics and the National Aeronautics and Space 
    Administration between the 1930s and the 1970s (referred to in this 
    section as ``recognized women'').
    (b) Design and Striking.--For the purpose of the awards under 
subsection (a), the Secretary of the Treasury (referred to in this Act 
as the ``Secretary'') shall strike each gold medal described in that 
subsection with suitable emblems, devices, and inscriptions, to be 
determined by the Secretary.
    (c) Transfer of Certain Medals After Presentation.--
        (1) Smithsonian institution.--
            (A) In general.--After the award of the gold medal 
        commemorating the life of Dorothy Vaughan under subsection 
        (a)(3)(A) and the award of the gold medal in recognition of 
        recognized women under subsection (a)(4), those medals shall be 
        given to the Smithsonian Institution where the medals shall 
        be--
                (i) available for display, as appropriate; and
                (ii) made available for research.
            (B) Sense of congress.--It is the sense of Congress that 
        the Smithsonian Institution should make the gold medals 
        received under subparagraph (A) available for--
                (i) display, particularly at the National Museum of 
            African American History and Culture; or
                (ii) loan, as appropriate, so that the medals may be 
            displayed elsewhere.
        (2) Transfer to family.--After the award of the gold medal in 
    honor of Mary Jackson under subsection (a)(3)(B), the medal shall 
    be given to her granddaughter, Wanda Jackson.
SEC. 4. DUPLICATE MEDALS.
    Under regulations that the Secretary may promulgate, the Secretary 
may strike and sell duplicates in bronze of the gold medals struck 
under this Act, at a price sufficient to cover the cost of the medals, 
including labor, materials, dies, use of machinery, and overhead 
expenses.
SEC. 5. STATUS OF MEDALS.
    (a) National Medals.--The medals struck under this Act are national 
medals for purposes of chapter 51 of title 31, United States Code.
    (b) Numismatic Items.--For purposes of sections 5134 and 5136 of 
title 31, United States Code, all medals struck under this Act shall be 
considered to be numismatic items.
SEC. 6. AUTHORITY TO USE FUND AMOUNTS; PROCEEDS OF SALE.
    (a) Authority To Use Fund Amounts.--There is authorized to be 
charged against the United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund such 
amounts as may be necessary to pay for the costs of the medals struck 
under this Act.
    (b) Proceeds of Sale.--Amounts received from the sale of duplicate 
bronze medals authorized under section 4 shall be deposited into the 
United States Mint Public Enterprise Fund.
SEC. 7. DETERMINATION OF BUDGETARY EFFECTS.
    The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying 
with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by 
reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO 
Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional 
Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that 
such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

                               Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                            Vice President of the United States and    
                                               President of the Senate.