Famous Women Engineers

ChE201 Fall, 2004

Grace Murray Hopper PhD from Yale in 1934, developed 1st computer compiler as a
research fellow at Harvards Computation Laboratory, invented COBOL programming
language, first women Admiral in US Navy, oldest person ever to retire from US Navy,
invented the term computer bug, visionary about use of computers in the public sector,
first US citizen to become a Distinguished Fellow of the British Computer Society
Barbara Johnson NASA aeronautical engineer responsible for moon landing, only
woman on the engineering team
Bonnie Dunbar NASA astronaut from Sunnyside, WA; BS in Ceramic Engineering
from UW; PhD from U. Houston; developed ceramic tiles to protect space capsules on reentry at Rockwell before joining NASA; named Rockwell Space Division Engineer of the
Year; flew on several NASA space missions
Judith Resnik NASA astronaut with a PhD in EE, mission specialist on a space flight
Beatrice Hicks degrees in both chemical and electrical engineering, founding member
and first president of SWE which now has 16,000 members, first woman engineer hired
by Western Electric Co, developed sensing devices
Ellen Swallow Richards pioneer in the field of environmental engineering, conducted
first water quality studies of Massachusetts waters in 1870, developed methods still being
used today, known as the mother of environmental engineering
Mary Walton British technologist in late 1800s, developed a method to detect smoke
emissions, developed methods to reduce train noise that was purchased by the New York
railroad system
Margaret Engels first woman to get masters degree in mechanical engineering, worked
for Carrier Corp designing better air conditioning systems, wrote books on the subject
Katherine Stinson inspired by Amelia Earhart she became the first woman to get BS in
ME with Aero Option from NC State, first female engineer to work for the Civil
Aeronautics Administration that later became the FAA, she earned the FAA Sustained
Superior Performance Award, helped organize SWE and served as president, named as
the Aviation Pioneer of the Year in 1987
Kathrine Hopper masters in civil engineering, design and construction of major sports
facilities including Safeco Field
Emily Roebling wife of the engineer who designed the Brooklyn Bridge, she took over
technical supervision when his health failed during construction, he became paralyzed

and could not talk, she learned engineering on the fly and became the real technical
leader of the project
Elizabeth MacGill first woman to graduate in EE at U. Toronto, worked for Austin
Motors which went into aircraft manufacture during WWII, she went to U. Michigan for
aeronautical engineering and became first woman to earn a masters degree in this
subject, she went back to Canada and designed an aircraft trainer called the Maple Leaf
Trainer II, first woman to chair a committee of the UN
Lillian Gilbreth PhD in ME, taught engineering at three major universities, developed
time and motion tools for industry, first woman in the Society of Mechanical Engineers,
the book and movie Cheaper by the Dozen is based on how she and her husband
managed their household
Stephanie Kwolek known for the invention of Kevlar, worked for DuPont and advanced
to their research labs, has 19 US patents, awarded National Medal of Technology (highest
award in engineering in US)
Maryly van Leer Peck PhD in chemical engineering, became an engineering educator,
research on fuel combustion for the Navy, family with four children
Denise Denton EE professor and Dean of Engineering at UW, research on MEMS with
biological applications, has worked to get students involved with research early in their
academic careers and to get more women into engineering
Borjana Mikic biomedical engineer and professor at Smith College
Gail Boydston chemical engineer with Eli Lilly Co, developing new types of insulin,
forecasts world wide manufacturing capacity needs for chemical and biotech facilities,
responsible for mentoring and training new engineering hires at Eli Lilly
Carol Muller Associate Dean of Engineering at Dartmouth, developed program to link
lower class engineering students to upper classmates, head spin-off nonprofit company
moniter.net to link female engineering students to female engineers in industry, now
4000 pairs and used at over 70 universities
Barbara McClintock one of pioneers in field of bioengineering, worked in genetics at
Cornell and had major research breakthroughs, her success irked male peers and she was
fired, continued her work in genetics and awarded Nobel Prize
Anita Vasavada biomedical engineering faculty member at WSU, enjoys teaching and
her research on impact of whiplash on neck muscles
Elizabeth Messer aerospace engineer at NASA, led a team that developed and tested the
Marshall Oxygen Cold-flow Facility, first female engine test director at NASAs Stennis
Space Flight Center

Lindsay Margn(?) nuclear engineer with US Navy working on the nuclear propulsion
program, supervises over 50 people running a nuclear reactor
Barbara Williams bioengineering technical person with major biomedical company,
first African American woman to be named division head, developed improved pacemakers for dogs and company hopes to use these innovations to move into ones for
humans
Rosalind Elsie Franklin doctorate from Cambridge, studied x-ray diffraction in Paris,
research at Kings College (London), made important contributions to discovery of DNA
Marie Curie from Poland but doctorate in Paris, research on properties of steel in
concert with industry needs, helped develop fundamental understanding of radioactivity,
won two Nobel Prizes
Lise Meitner PhD in physics based on studies of heat conduction, known as the mother
of the atomic bomb, provided great insight to radioactive decay processes, collaborated
with Otto Hahn who discovered nuclear fission and other important scientists Niels Bohr,
Max Born, Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, James Chadwick and Albert Einstein, Einstein
referred to her as The German Madam Curie
Mildred Dresselhaus professor of engineering at MIT, made advances in
superconductors for use in solid-state electronics, has received many honors and awards
Chien-Shiung Wu originally a researcher in nuclear physics, did experimental
verification of Lee and Yangs theory about beta decay (they got Nobel Prize but not
her), worked on the Manhattan Project and developed a process for separating U235 from
U238 by gaseous diffusion; helped develop more sensitive Geiger counters, research on
sickle-cell anemia using advanced biophysics
Thelma Estrin PhD in EE and a biomedical engineer, first IEEE woman vice president,
developed first computer in the Middle East, became Director of the Brain Research
Institute
Elizabeth Pate-Cornell PhD in engineering economic systems, Distinguished Professor
and Chair of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Stanford University,
making developments in risk reduction for technological activities such as space shuttle
flights and construction of dams and off-shore oil platforms, first female engineering
faculty member from Stanford to be elected to National Academy of Engineering,
member of the National Research Council, on the NASA Advisory Committee
Hertha Ayrton educated at University of London and Cambridge in math in late 1800s,
has a number of papers published on solution of math problems, helped her husband
conduct important experiments in electricity, first female member of The Institution of
Electrical Engineers, first female to read her own paper before The Royal Society of
London