Great Women in Engineering History

Long before women engineers were considered something special, some amazing women were doing great things to pave the way.  Although their contributions are sometimes unrecognized, women with a little ingenuity have always had the power to do great things.  Take a look at a few of these profiles of historical women to see how they made a difference in their world.

Helen Augusta Blanchard - Helen Augusta Blanchard was one of the greatest inventors of the industrial era.

Martha J. Coston - Martha Coston developed signal flares that are still used by the U.S. Navy today.

Edith Clarke - Edith Clarke was the first woman to earn an Electrical Engineering degree from MIT.

Olive Dennis - Olive Dennis was the first female member of the American Railway Engineering Association.

Elsie Eaves - Elsie Eaves was the first woman to be a full member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Irmgard Flugge-Lotz - Irmgard Flugge-Lotz was Stanford University's first female full professor in engineering.

Lillian Gilbreth - Lillian Moller Gilbreth was the first female to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering.

Kate Gleason - Kate Gleason was the first female member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the American Concrete Institute.

Grace Murray Hopper - Rear Admiral Dr. Grace Murray Hopper was a remarkable woman who grandly rose to the challenges of programming the first computers.

M. Gertrude Rand - M. Gertrude Rand was the first woman to receive the Optical Society of America's Edgar D. Tillyer Medal in recognition of distinguished work in the field of vision.

Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards - Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards was the founder of home economics and was the first woman admitted to MIT.

Emily W. Roebling - Emily Warren Roebling was, and still is, considered to be the person who was in charge of the day to day construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Nora Stanton - Nora Stanton was the first woman in the United States to graduate with a civil engineering degree.

Mary Walton - Mary Walton was a pioneer in reducing air pollution during the Industrial Revolution.