Escrito por: Maria Luiza Viana Sampaio
First of all, I’m sure once in your life you heard that engineering is for men, fortunatelly, things changed and, nowadays, women occupy a significant part in engineering courses and firms, but not enough, the world has to change a lot to be equal. I want to tell you the story of these 5 extraordinary women that are so important.
1 – Emily Roebling
Emily Roebling was married with Washington Roebling, and daughter-in-law of John August Roebling. Her father-in-law was the engineer responsible for the Project of the Brooklyn Bridge, but he had an accident and her son had to take charge of the construction. Later, Washington had a disease and Emily had to continue the construction. She wasn’t graduated as an engineer, so she learned things with her husband and entered on the Georgetown Visitation Convent to study a little more about Mathmatics, Chemistry, Geology and other lessons essential for the projects. She concluded the bridge and was the first person to cross it, obviously. She was the first woman to liderate the American Society of Civil Engineers. In fact, she’s a reference about women’s fight for rights to graduate.
Image 1 – Emily.
Source: New York Historical Society
2- Alba Colon
Borned in Spain and raised in Porto Rico, as a kid she dreamed about being na astronaut, but she realized in Mechanics Engineering School that she was good at it and decided to join the automobilistic area. She was hired by General Motors and, later, was designed to a management position on Chevy, becoming a reference on race cars production.
Image 2 – Alba.
Source: Microsoft News
3- Aprille Ericson
New yorker, raised in Brooklyn, she Always was a good student. After won a prize on a Science fair, she participated of MITES, Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science, on MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on high school, that was her first contact with rocket design. She was the first african-american woman to receive a Ph.D in Mechanical and Aeroespacial engineering from Howard University and from Nasa Goddard Space Flight Center. She is considered the scientist of rockets.
Image 3 – Aprille.
Source: PET Elétrica UFBA.
4- Enedina Alves Marques
From a poor Family, she was grown in a farm that her mother worked and her boss paid for her studies. After concluding her studies on school, she began to teach and dream about the Engineering school. She was the first African-American woman to graduate in Engineering in Brazil, in 1945, in a class with only white men. She’s not only a symbol for women, but also for the fight against racism.
Image 4 – Enedina.
Source: Afro Históricos.
5- Edith Clarke
First, she graduated in Mathmatics and Astronomy in Vassar College, in New York. After that, She became a teacher until start her studies on Civil Engineering, in University of Winsconsin. During that, she was working at American Telephone and Telegraph, when she fell in love with Electrical Engineering. She was the first woman to get a Electrical Engineering Degree on MIT, Massachusetts Institute of Tecnology. However, she wasn’t recognized as engineer until 1922, before that, she was hired as an human computer at General Electric, when she developed the Clarke Calculator, a grafic device used to solve problems about transmission. She was also the first woman to became a professor of Electrical Engineering in the country.
Image 5 – Edith.
Source: Medium.
Did you see the power of women in Engineering? There are a lot of another women that changed the technological world, you just have to research about them. The next can be you!
Reference
TREIGHER, Thamiris. Conheça a história de Emily Roebling, engenheira fundamental para a construção da Ponte do Brooklyn. INBEC Pós-graduação, 2018. Available in: https://inbec.com.br/blog/conheca-historia-emily-roebling-engenheira-fundamental-para-construcao-ponte-brooklyn.
PAIVA, Vitor. Conheça a história de Enedina Marques, a primeira engenheira negra do Brasil. Hypeness, 2020. Available in: https://www.hypeness.com.br/2020/01/conheca-a-historia-de-enedina-marques-a-primeira-engenheira-negra-do-brasil/.
PRATES, Moira. Aprille Ericsson: do Brooklyn para a NASA. PET Engenharia Elétrica UFBA, 2020. Available in: http://www.peteletrica.eng.ufba.br/2017/aprille-ericsson-do-brooklyn-para-a-nasa/.
NASCIMENTO, Mariana. Edith Clarke – Pioneira na Engenharia Elétrica. PET Engenharia Elétrica UFBA, 2020. Available in: http://www.peteletrica.eng.ufba.br/2017/edith-clarke-pioneira-na-engenharia-eletrica/.
CIVILIZAÇÃO ENGENHEIRA 