In 1976, she attended an exhibition that included an illusion of a light bulb that was lit, even though it had been removed from its socket. The illusion, which involved another light bulb and concave mirrors, inspired Thomas. Curious about how light and concave mirrors could be used in her work at NASA, she began her research in 1977. This involved creating an experiment in which she observed how the position of a concave mirror would affect the real object that it reflected. Using this technology, she would invent the illusion transmitter. On October 21, 1980, she obtained the patent for the illusion transmitter, a device that NASA continues to use today. As a woman and an African American, Ms. Thomas worked her way up to associate chief of the Space Science Data Operations Office at NASA. In 1985, she was the NSSDC Computer Facility manager responsible for a major consolidation and reconfiguration of two previously independent computer facilities and infused it with new technology. She then served as the Space Physics Analysis Network (SPAN) project manager from 1986–1990 during a period when SPAN underwent a major reconfiguration and grew from a scientific network with about 100 computer nodes to one directly connecting about 2,700 computer nodes worldwide. In 1990, SPAN became a major part of NASA's science networking and today's Internet. She also participated in projects related to Halley's Comet, ozone research, satellite technology and the Voyager spacecraft. At the end of August 1995, she retired from NASA and her positions of associate chief of NASA's Space Science Data Operations Office, manager of the NASA Automated Systems Incident Response Capability and as chair of the Space Science Data Operations Office Education Committee. Post-retirement, Valerie Thomas served as an associate at the UMBC Center for Multicore Hybrid Productivity Research. She continued to serve as a mentor for youth through the Science Mathematics Aerospace Research and Technology and National Technical Association. Valerie's invention showed up in a children's fictional book and would then be seen on television and video games. Throughout her career, Thomas held high level positions at NASA including heading the Large Area Crop Inventory Experiment (LACIE) collaboration between NASA, NOAA, and USDA in 1974, serving as assistant program manager for Landast/Nimbus (1975-1976), managing the NSSDC Computer Facility (1985), managing the Space Physics Analysis Network project (1986-1990), and serving as associate chief of the Space Science Data Operations Office. She authored many scientific papers and holds a patent for the illusion transmitter. For her achievements, Thomas has received numerous awards including the Goddard Space Flight Center Award of Merit and NASA's Equal Opportunity Medal.