News outlets including PBS NewsHour reported that GPS pioneer and mathematician Gladys West had died at age 95.
On January 5, 2026, major news outlets, including PBS NewsHour, reported that Dr. Gladys West, the mathematician whose foundational calculations helped make modern GPS technology possible, had died at the age of 95.
Obituaries and institutional tributes that followed emphasized West's remarkable journey: born into a farming family in segregated rural Virginia in 1930, she overcame significant racial and gender barriers to build a distinguished 42-year career as a mathematician for the U.S. Navy, ultimately contributing critical work on satellite geodesy and Earth-shape modeling essential to GPS accuracy. Her story, largely unknown to the public until 2017, had by the time of her death become widely celebrated, with numerous honors including induction into the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame, the Royal Academy of Engineering's Prince Philip Medal, and the IEEE President's Award.
Following her death, additional recognitions continued, including a posthumous induction into the Geospatial Professional Network Hall of Fame in 2026. West's passing marked the end of a life that spanned from the era of hand-cranked calculators to the ubiquity of smartphone-based satellite navigation she had helped make possible, leaving a legacy as one of the essential 'hidden figures' of twentieth-century American science and technology.