Latest / Dorktales Storytime | Stories for Kids Who Love Big Adventures / Mary Golda Ross | Rocket Scientist, History Stories for Kids

Transcript

Mary Golda Ross | Rocket Scientist, History Stories for Kids · Dorktales Storytime | Stories for Kids Who Love Big Adventures

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_05: Hello, Dork Squad.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_05: I'm Jonathan Corper, and you're listening to Dork Tales Storytime, the podcast for kids and their pop culture loving grown-ups.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_05: And this is an inspiring story about a hidden hero of history.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful day for a story, adventure, and glory, new friends and old ones too.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's an excellent day to get swept away in a tale, so let us regale you me.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Reg me.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_05: Mr.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_05: Regs! Head of this way back to the ship! Reginald! What what what what?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: I'm awake! I'm awake! Reginald T.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_05: Hedgehog.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_05: We are in the middle of recording a new story.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_05: You can't sleep on the job.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_05: Well you can't possibly blame me.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_05: What do you mean?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_05: Well I heard the introduction, Jonathan.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_05: We are talking about history.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_05: Bleh.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: But history's so fascinating.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_05: Ah, you can't fool me.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_05: I'm much smarter than that.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_05: I've read all the books and learned all the facts, and there's nothing else to know.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, you're a real genius.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_05: But I'm going back to my dream.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_05: No, no, don't fall asleep again.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_05: I promise it's in my dream.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_05: I was the captain of the USS Mighty League.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: We just landed on the planet Globe.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_05: Wait! Ugh, what now?
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_05: What if I told you that there's plenty of history you don't know?
• 2:05
  unknown: Ha ha!
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_05: Doubtful.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_05: Alright, well, I guess I won't tell you about the top secret projects and the creation of super fast airplanes.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_05: What's that now?
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_05: Just a little story about an incredible math and science whiz.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_05: Ooh.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_05: The true tale about a woman who reached for the stars.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_05: Hmm, now wait just a second.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_05: This might be worth staying awake for.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_05: More worth it than you even know.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_05: That's right, folks.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_05: Today on Hidden Heroes of History, we're going to learn about Mary Golda Ross.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_05: Ooh, I like the sound of her already.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_05: Who exactly is she?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_05: Well, Mary Ross is someone everyone needs to know about.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_05: She was one of the first female engineers, and her work in the early days of spaceflight was very important.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_05: Even still to this day.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_05: Now, obviously, I know the answer to this question.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_05: Well, of course you do.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_05: You know everything.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_05: Precisely.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_05: But uh for listeners, what does an engineer do?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: I'm so glad you asked.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_05: Engineering is the process of creating and building structures, products, and systems by using math and science.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_05: Mary Ross became an engineer by studying mathematics, which led her to a job designing fighter planes that were really close to breaking the sound barrier.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_05: In other words, planes that were going really, really fast.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_05: And eventually, she helped to create some of the first designs for Interplanetary Space Travel.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_05: Ooh, brilliant! Tell us more about Interplanetary Space Travel.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_05: Uh patience, Reg.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_05: First, let's rewind and talk about Miss Ross's early days.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_05: Mary Golda Ross was born in 1908 to a Cherokee community in Oklahoma.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_05: She loved math and science from an early age and took classes in school, a very rare thing for a young woman to do during her time.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_05: But she always said that she could hold her own.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_05: What inspiring confidence.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_05: Truly.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_05: Ms.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_05: Ross was so ambitious and passionate, she completed high school at the young age of 16.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_05: She went on to get a college degree in mathematics.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_05: A very significant accomplishment, since women in 1928 were rarely even allowed to go to college.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_05: Wow! And uh then the space travel?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_05: Not yet.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_05: She continued her education for a second degree in mathematics.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_05: During her studies, she took astronomy classes and read a lot about space.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_05: After she graduated, she taught for nine years before she was hired by Lockheed Martin.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I know Lockheed! The aerospace company that specializes in making well, y mainly a bunch of super advanced airplanes.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_05: Exactly.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_05: Now, how did you know about that?
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_05: But I do read you know.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_05: Well Mary Ross was hired during the height of World War II.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_05: So her first projects were focused on and boy do I love this name.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_05: The P-38 Lightning!
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, the P-38 Lightning! The first fighter plane to come close to breaking the sound barrier.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: For protection today and progress tomorrow.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_03: Lockheed Lightning, you're soaring through the big blue sky.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: P Lightning, P-38 Lightning!
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_05: Alright, alright.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_05: And uh then space travel! Mary Ross rose through the ranks at Lockheed and accomplished incredible feats along the way, including big contributions to space travel that would eventually help put humans into space.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, this story just gets better and better.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_05: She was one of the only female engineers of forty employees who were selected to be part of a top secret division called Skunkworks.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, I knew a skunk once.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_05: Interesting fellow.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_05: Well, this project had nothing to do with actual skunks, Reg.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I could have told you that.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_05: Skunkworks is where she began her work on space exploration.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_05: She also participated in projects that are still top secret to this day.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_05: Ooh, the intrigue.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_05: She used her talents to develop and design satellites that ultimately led to humans in space.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_05: She even worked on early designs for flyby missions to Venus and Mars.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_05: What?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_05: It's true.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_05: As she said herself, she was taking the theoretical and making it real.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_05: She reached for the stars.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_05: Precisely.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_05: Uh Mr.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_05: Reg?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_05: Are you okay?
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_05: Well, I say, who knew history could could make this old hedgehog so emotional?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_05: And there's still more.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_05: More?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_05: More.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_05: Mary Ross was a true pioneer in engineering.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_05: I salute her.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_05: She will receive the highest honor of the hedgehogs for her tireless brilliance and incredible Anyways.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_05: Mary Ross was not only one of the first women to rise in the ranks of engineering, she was also one of the first Native Americans in the field.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_05: After retiring, she mentored young women and Native Americans, encouraging them to follow in her footsteps.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_05: She wanted more people to get excited about math, science, and engineering.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_05: Well, her story makes me more excited.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_05: Think of all the hidden heroes of history we have yet to learn about.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_05: Ah, not so bored now, I see.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_05: Really, Jonathan?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_05: How could anyone be bored by history?
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_05: And the pioneers of space.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_05: Hidden Heroes of History is a John and Character production.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_05: This story was written by Molly Murphy and performed by Jonathan Cormer.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_05: Sound recording and production by Jermaine Hamilton at Hamilton Sound Studios.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_05: Reach out to us on Instagram or email us at DorkTalestorytime at gmail.com.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_05: Find links in the show notes or go to Dorktailstorytime.com.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_05: Now, go be the hero of your own story.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_05: And we'll see you next once upon a time.