The Webby Awards announced Dr. Gladys West as recipient of the 2021 Webby Lifetime Achievement Award for her foundational work enabling GPS.
On May 19, 2021, the Webby Awards, one of the internet's leading honors for digital achievement and innovation, announced Dr. Gladys West as the recipient of its 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award.
This recognition celebrated West's foundational mathematical and computational work that made modern GPS technology possible—a system so deeply embedded in contemporary digital life, from smartphone navigation to logistics and emergency services, that its origins are often taken for granted. By honoring West, the Webby Awards highlighted the often-invisible scientific labor behind ubiquitous modern technologies.
The award came during a period of intensified public recognition for West, following the 2017 media attention that brought her story to light and a series of subsequent honors including her 2018 Hall of Fame induction and the 2020/2021 Prince Philip Medal. Her Webby recognition served to introduce her legacy to broader, younger, and more digitally engaged audiences who interact daily with GPS-enabled technology without awareness of the mathematicians, like West, whose calculations made such precision possible. It further solidified her public legacy as one of the essential 'hidden figures' of modern digital infrastructure.