Barbara Jean Paulson (née Lewis; April 11, 1928 – February 26, 2023) was an American human computer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and one of the first female scientists employed there.

Paulson joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 1948 as a computer, calculating rocket paths and working on the MGM-5 Corporal, the first guided missile designed by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead.

[5] Paulson and her colleagues were at one point invited to sign their names on the 100th Corporal rocket prior to its transport to the White Sands test range.

[4] On January 31, 1958,[2] Paulson was assigned to the operations center for Explorer-1, the first satellite of the United States, launched during the Space Race with the Soviet Union.

[4][8] JPL had no maternity leave, so women who were fired or forced to quit their positions did not have jobs to return to after giving birth.

[7] Paulson's calculations also proved to be essential during the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase of the mission, in which the lander would detach from the spacecraft, enter the martian atmosphere, and parachute down to the surface.

[11] Throughout pregnancy and her eventual return to work at JPL, Barbara's husband at the time was a real estate appraiser and member of the Pasadena Board of Realtors.

[2] In 2016, Nathalia Holt wrote Rise of the Rocket Girls, a book about Paulson and other women who were early employees at NASA.