FACULTY / STAFF NEWS
Inside | the | House
“
My task was primarily to check that the mathematics on the blackboards in the background scenes and in notebooks was consistent with the things that NASA did at the time.”— RUDY HORNE
Professor Rudy Horne Served as Math Consultant on ‘Hidden Figures’ by SYNERA SHELTON Morehouse Associate Professor of Mathematics Rudy Horne didn’t appear on-screen in the acclaimed film “Hidden Figures.” But Horn left an indelible mark on the movie about African American women working as human computers for NASA. As the movie’s math consultant, Horne made sure that all figures used in the script added up. His handwriting covers the chalkboard in a scene in which NASA genius Katherine Johnson (played by Taraji P. Henson) solves a quadratic equation. And Horne made sure the math used in the movie was historically relevant.
14
morehouse magazine • 150 years of excellence
“My task was primarily to check that the mathematics on the blackboards in the background scenes and in notebooks was consistent with the things that NASA did at the time,” he said in an interview with KGOU public radio. Horne also helped generate some excitement about math on the set, one of the key things he wanted to accomplish. “I had a student here at Morehouse who came up to me and mentioned that after he had seen the film it really inspired him to want to do mathematics,” Horne said. “If the film helps gets more people involved in math and science and STEM fields, that’s a great thing.” M