- Lonnie G. Johnson was born in Alabama in 1949.
- He worked for the U.S. Air Force and the NASA space program.
- Johnson's father was a skilled handyman who taught his children to build their own toys.
- Johnson attended Williamson High School, an all-black facility, where, despite his precocious intelligence and creativity, he was told not to aspire beyond a career as a technician.
- Nicknamed "The Professor" by his high school buddies, Johnson represented his school at a 1968 science fair sponsored by the Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS).
Fast Facts
- He died on February 17th 1937
- He died when he was 63 years old
- One of Johnson's quotes was "This will put us on the map"
- Johnson had 96 patents
- Johnson was on the team that designed the Cassini robot probe that flew 740 million miles to Saturn.