Mathematician Dr. Gladys West, whose Earth modeling work formed the foundation for the global positioning system, has died at 95. Her 42-year career at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia, involved the complex calculations that later became the backbone for GPS. This technology now underpins everything from aviation to daily navigation.

Born in 1930, West earned her degrees from Virginia State University and began her work in 1956, creating precise models of the Earth's shape from satellite data. Like many women of color in tech, her contributions went largely uncelebrated for decades before belated recognition from the Air Force and her sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, in 2018.

Her story echoes the "hidden figures" narrative, where foundational work often precedes public acclaim. In a 2020 interview, West noted she still preferred paper maps over the technology she helped create. Her legacy is a reminder of the unsung engineers whose calculations power our modern, connected world.