Recommending "Hidden Figures"

[Citrus Dad]

I know many of you may be too engulfed in robot building to take a break, but if you can, I strongly recommend seeing the new movie "Hidden Figures." It is a well-crafted film with multiple messages. For those in FRC, perhaps the most important is how the development process may not go smoothly and how to be adaptable and insightful. NASA's effort toward putting a man into orbit and bringing him back looked an awful lot like the build season!

Here's a review and rating from Rotten Tomatoes. (It was getting 94% when I posted this.) https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hidden_figures/

[rsisk]

I second this. Our team saw it the night before kickoff, it was awesome!

[Jon Stratis]

Thirded.

Saw it the night before kickoff with a group of other regional volunteers, and it was awesome. Then most of the students on my team went to see it last Monday before our meeting, since they didn't have school. Everyone from both groups really enjoyed it!

[D_Price]

It was a very well put-together movie with an empowerment message. It for sure embodies the message of FIRST and lets girls know that they can do anything also.

[MooreteP]

I was prepared to dislike the movie as Hollywood has a tendency to overstate and sugarcoat. There was plenty of this in the film, but still, I liked it.

Not all of the math was correct, but it was nice to see the Projectile Range equation show up, even if it was not directly applicable to the problem.

The use of Euler's "old" calculus solution being applied to a new scenario was sweet.

The use of a sledgehammer to solve two "problems" was clever in their different contexts.

Ah.....FORTRAN. I got my education in programming with this language.
Confusing a "1" with a lower case "L" was a bugaboo.
Card readers!
We used to submit our "files", and return two hours later to find our results were faulty due to one misplaced character.

The fact that the term "computers" was used to denote people who could solve mental math proficiently was a nice touch.

The film is worth your time for its problem solving approaches and the way it reflected both the space race and civil rights movement.

Nostalgia.

[Hallry]

Finally got the chance to see Hidden Figures today and loved it. It really opens the eyes of those of us who weren't alive in the era, and makes me wish that we had the same "Space Race mentality" around today - not just for the scientific progress, but for the social progress as well. Though build season might be in full swing, I would highly recommend finding some free time to go see it in theaters.