By Alimey Diaz |
- The incredible results offered today by Engineering and Asset Management are the result of the efforts of thousands of committed professionals. Many of them were women, scientists, visionaries, pioneering engineers who ventured to make their mark in a traditionally male-dominated world, and whose inventions revolutionized industry and saved thousands of lives.
- Women in Reliability and Asset Management (WIRAM), under the umbrella of The Association of Asset Management Professionals (AMP),, works to elevate the role of women in asset management, and today we remember these pioneers who paved the way for the next generations to follow.
Industrial Engineering and Asset Management are constantly evolving professions. The continuous emergence of new digital technologies, increasingly sophisticated equipment and markets eager for better products and services, drive our industry’s professionals, scientists and investors to create novel solutions that not only meet client requirements but also accelerate progress, profitability and security in companies and organizations.
Asset Management has a strong commitment to sustainability and constantly strives to create the conditions that will lead to a safer and more sustainable future for all. But behind the magnificent results that our profession can offer today is the effort of thousands of committed professionals. Many of them were women, scientists, visionaries, pioneering engineers who ventured to make their mark in a traditionally male-dominated world.
These incredible women laid the foundations for many of the technological advances we enjoy today. Women in Reliability and Asset Management (WIRAM) under the umbrella of the Association of Asset Management Professionals (AMP), works to highlight women’s contributions to this profession. And today we want to remember the pioneering women in engineering, because they paved the way for the following generations to have the opportunity to develop and advance as professionals and on a personal level. Here, a small compilation of them, the first ones, who made history in engineering.
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852):
Lord Byron’s daughter demonstrated ingenuity from an early age. She created an algorithm while working with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine, to be processed by that machine, for which she is considered the first computer programmer. Lovelace laid part of the foundations of what we know today as Software Engineering.
Marie Curie (1867-1934):
A native of Poland, Madame Curie, a physics and chemistry graduate, was the first person to study the field of radioactivity. Together with her husband, Pierre Curie, she announced the discovery of two previously unknown elements: radium and polonium. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the only person to win two Nobel Prizes (Physics 1903, for the discovery of radioactive elements, and Chemistry 1911, for her research on Radium and its compounds). She was director of the Radium Institute in Paris (1914) and founder of the Curie Institute. Her research laid the foundations for applications in nuclear engineering and radiotherapy in medicine.
Hedy Lamarr (1914-2000):
This beautiful Austrian-born actress, Hollywood star of such blockbuster films as Samson and Delilah (1949), was also an accomplished inventor and a driving force behind what we know today as Telecommunications Engineering. She invented the first version of spread spectrum that would enable long-distance wireless communications. The purpose of this invention, in the context of World War II, was to have a radio guidance system for allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to overcome the threat of interference from hostile forces. This invention was patented along with composer George Antheil and laid the foundation for modern wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS.
Emily Roebling Warren (1843-1903):
Emily’s husband, engineer Washington Roebling, was responsible for overseeing the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. When he became incapacitated, Emily took over his position, relying on the in-depth knowledge of blueprints and engineering that she learned from her husband. This made her a de facto engineer, completing one of the most important civil works in the United States at the end of the 19th century.
Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972):
Industrial engineer, psychologist and efficiency expert, Lillian was a woman way ahead of her time, creating the basis for what we know as “ergonomics” or “work fatigue”. Lillian invented employee suggestion boxes, rest periods and process diagrams. Along with her husband Frank Bunker Gilbreth, she pioneered the study of motion, time in the workplace and industrial management. Lilliam was also the mother of 12 children, which led her to collaborate with appliance manufacturers, always looking for the best way to do things. She devised the shelves inside refrigerator doors and the foot pedal for garbage cans. She was the first woman to join the Society of Industrial Engineering in 1921, the first member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1964, and the first woman to receive the Hoover Medal in 1966. She was a visiting professor at MIT in 1964 when she was 86 years old.
Nora Stanton Blatch Barney (1883-1971):
Nora, a native of England, was one of the first women to graduate in Civil Engineering in the United States, an architect, and an accomplished fighter for equal rights for women in engineering and in society. A graduate of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, she was the first woman to be accepted (with junior status) into the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 1914 she began working as an architect and developer on Long Island, and also worked for several years as an assistant engineer for the New York State Public Service Commission.
Olive Dennis (1885-1957):
Dennis was the first woman engineer employed by a major railroad company in the United States, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. She used her knowledge to create a better travel experience for passengers, and to this end she placed special emphasis on the study and improvement of train seats, such as making them reclining, or using stain-proof upholstery. He also took into account other aspects such as ventilation or the quality of the bathrooms. According to Dennis, “No matter how successful a business may appear to be, it can be even more so if the women’s point of view is considered.” Their contributions profoundly impacted railroad service.
Stephanie Kwolek (1923-2014):
This celebrated American-born chemist of Polish parents owes her well-deserved fame to the invention of Kevlar (polyparaphenylene terephthalamide), the synthetic fiber as strong as it is lightweight, with wide use in engineering to create bulletproof vests, fiber optic cables, tennis rackets, skis, parachute lines, boats, planes, ropes, cables, hurricane safety rooms and bridge reinforcements and more. Her invention, patented in 1971, was a revolution in materials science. Stephanie synthesized this polyamide while working for DuPont in Buffalo, New York, to which she assigned the Kevlar patent.
Yvonne Brill (1924-2013):
Yvonne Brill was born in Canada, studied Chemistry and Mathematics at the University of Manitoba and developed a brilliant career as an aerospace engineer in the United States. She is known as the inventor of the electrothermal resistojet propellant, and was a pioneer in the development of propulsion systems for rockets and satellites. Yvonne created the propulsion system currently used by communications satellites to keep them in orbit. She also worked on the propulsion system for the first meteorological satellite, and was propulsion manager for the NOVA spacecraft, a satellite that provided extensive data for the Navy. On this satellite, Brill managed to implement a pulse plasma propulsion system, something very revolutionary at the time.
Of course, there are many more female figures who have shone and driven engineering in the world. This is just a sample of those women who have left an indelible mark of progress and excellence in our profession, and who continue to inspire the careers and professional development of millions of women around the world. Thanks to their legacy, there are organizations like WIRAM and women around the world whose dreams know no bounds. To them goes this small tribute.
