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Al Harrison Quotes

Total quotes: 7
“[to the NASA workers]

Al Harrison: Just to be clear in fourteen days, the Mercury Seven will be here for training, and I have no doubt in my mind that they’re going to be asking us questions about our work. I think that’s pretty reasonable given we’re putting a human on top of a missile, shooting him into space, and it’s never been done before. Because it’s never been done, everything we do between now and then is going matter. It’s gonna matter to their wives, to their children. I believe it’s going matter to the whole damn country. So this Space Task Group will be as advertised. America’s greatest engineering and scientific minds are not going to have a problem with having their work checked. Are they, Paul?

Paul Stafford: No, sir.

Al Harrison: Good. So let’s have an amen, damn it.

NASA Worker: Amen. Amen!

Al Harrison: All right.”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: NASA, Space Program
“Jim Webb: A damn dog and a damn mannequin. And then, a 1.6 megaton RDS-37 thermonuclear warhead drops down in the middle of Des Moines.

Paul Stafford: Well, that’s a pretty big jump, sir.

Jim Webb: What?

Paul Stafford: Just that, that…

Jim Webb: Who the hell is he?

Al Harrison: Paul Stafford, our lead engineer, Mr. Webb. I think what he meant to say is that speculation, at least on our side of the equation by definition, can be just a little dangerous.

Jim Webb: Dangerous? You know what’s dangerous, Mr. Stafford? Inaction and indecision. The Russians have a spy satellite lapping the planet, taking pictures of God knows what! The President is demanding an immediate response. No more delay. Alan Shepard, John Glenn, your uncle Bob, it doesn’t matter. Get us up there, Harrison. We can’t justify a space program that doesn’t put anything in space.”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: russians, Spies, NASA, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Space Program
“Vivian Mitchell: Space Task Group needs a computer, ASAP. Someone with a handle on analytic geometry. We can’t fill that position out of the east group.

Dorothy Vaughan: Permanent or temp?

Vivian Mitchell: Everything’s temporary, Dorothy. You have someone?

Dorothy Vaughan: Yes, ma’am. Katherine’s the gal for that. She can handle any numbers you put in front of her.

Vivian Mitchell: I’ll check her credentials [she turns to leave] Didn’t think I’d come all the way down here.”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: NASA, Geometry
“Dorothy Vaughan: Mrs. Mitchell, If I could. My application for supervisor, ma’am. I was just wondering if they’re still considering me for that position.

Vivian Mitchell: Yes. Well, the official word is no. They’re not assigning a permanent supervisor for the colored group.

Dorothy Vaughan: May I ask why?

Vivian Mitchell: I don’t know why. I didn’t ask why.

Dorothy Vaughan: We need a supervisor, ma’am. We haven’t had one since Miss Jansen got sick. It’s been almost a year.

Vivian Mitchell: Things are working just fine as-is.

Dorothy Vaughan: I’m doing the work of a supervisor.

Vivian Mitchell: Well, that’s NASA for you. Fast with rocket ships, slow with advancement. Get those trajectory calcs worked out, we need them for the Redstone test.”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: NASA, Rocket Ships
“Al Harrison: Ruth, what’s the status on that computer?

Ruth: She’s right behind you, Mr. Harrison.

[he turns and sees Katherine]

Al Harrison: Does she handle Analytic Geometry?

Ruth: Absolutely, and she speaks.

Katherine Johnson: Yes, sir, I do.

Al Harrison: Which one?

Katherine Johnson: Both. Geometry and speaking.

Al Harrison: Ruth, get me the…

[Ruth hands him a piece of paper]

Al Harrison: You think you, uh, you think you can find me the Frenet Frame for this data using the Gram-Schmidt…

Katherine Johnson: Orthogonalization algorithm. Yes, sir. I prefer it over Euclidean coordinates.

Al Harrison: Okay, good. Good, then I’m going to need it by the end of the day.

Katherine Johnson: Yes.

Al Harrison: I’m also going to ask you to check Mr. Stafford’s math as well as others’ on this floor from time to time.

Paul Stafford: I can, I can handle that, Al.

Al Harrison: I’m sure you can, Paul. I’m sure they all can. But if that were the case shingles wouldn’t be flying off the heat shield, now would they?”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: NASA, Algorithms, Geometry, Frenet Frame
“Karl Zielinski: There is another opening in the Engineer Training Program.

Mary Jackson: Flat head rivets would reduce wind drag.

Karl Zielinski: Mary, a person with engineer’s mind should be an engineer. You can’t be a computer the rest of your life.

Mary Jackson: Mr. Zielinski, I’m a Negro woman. I’m not going to entertain the impossible.

Karl Zielinski: And I’m a Polish Jew whose parents died in a Nazi prison camp. Now I’m standing beneath a spaceship that’s going to carry an astronaut to the stars. I think we can say we are living the impossible. Let me ask you, if you were a white male, would you wish to be an engineer?

Mary Jackson: I wouldn’t have to, I’d already be one.”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: NASA, Nazi, Polish, Jew, Holocaust
“[referring to their meeting with Jim Webb]

Al Harrison: How did that feel in there, Paul? You think you enlightened the administrator? Hm? No, he didn’t look enlightened to me. He look enlightened to you, Sam?

Sam Turner: Not particularly.

Al Harrison: And just so you know, he’s not wrong about what he said in there. You know that, right? Because now that they can get up there, a bomb will follow. It’s what happens to all our good ideas. I imagine theirs too. Where’s… Where’s the machine?

Ruth: Any day now, Mr. Harrison.

Al Harrison: Any day now.

Ruth: Yes, sir.

Al Harrison: What’s it called? The initials?

Ruth: The IBM.

Paul Stafford: International Business Machines.

Al Harrison: Space is a business. I need a mathematician.

Ruth: I’ll put in another request, sir.

Al Harrison: Another request. Jesus Christ. We don’t have a single person in this entire building that can handle analytic geometry?

Ruth: That’s what I’ve been told.

Al Harrison: Tell me something else, Ruth, like we’re going to find such a person before the Russians plant a flag on the damn moon.”
— Al Harrison, Hidden Figures
Tagged: russians, Spies, NASA, Space Program, IBM
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