Women Engineers

Meet the remarkable women whose ideas, persistence, and creativity have shaped the world around us.

Trailblazers Who Changed the Future

Women engineers and innovators have designed groundbreaking technology, improved transportation, advanced medicine, explored space, and created solutions that make everyday life better.

Computing, Mathematics, and Communication

Ada Lovelace

Ada Lovelace was an English mathematician and writer who is widely regarded as the world’s first computer programmer. While studying Charles Babbage’s proposed Analytical Engine, she wrote an algorithm for the machine and recognized that computers could work with symbols and create more than numerical calculations.

Grace Hopper

Grace Hopper was an American computer scientist, mathematician, and U.S. Navy rear admiral who helped shape modern computing. She helped create COBOL, one of the first widely used programming languages designed to resemble everyday English, and inspired generations of programmers through her leadership and teaching.

Radia Perlman

Radia Perlman is an American computer programmer and network engineer best known for inventing the Spanning Tree Protocol, which helps computer networks prevent loops and communicate reliably. Her work contributed to the stable and scalable infrastructure of modern internet technology.

Thelma Estrin

Thelma Estrin was an American computer scientist, engineer, and pioneer in biomedical computing. She helped develop one of the first computer systems for processing medical data and championed opportunities for women in science, engineering, and computing.

Hedy Lamarr

Hedy Lamarr was an Austrian-American inventor and actor who, together with composer George Antheil, developed a frequency-hopping communication system during World War II. The underlying idea later influenced secure communications and technologies such as wireless networking.

Aerospace, Aviation, and Space Technology

Mary Jackson

Mary Jackson was NASA’s first Black female engineer. She contributed to research on aircraft aerodynamics at NASA’s Langley Research Center and worked to help other women and people of color advance in mathematics and engineering.

Yvonne Brill

Yvonne Brill was a Canadian-American propulsion engineer whose innovations helped improve satellite technology. She developed an electrothermal hydrazine thruster that allowed satellites to remain in orbit more efficiently and helped advance modern communications satellites.

Beatrice Tilly Shilling

Beatrice Tilly Shilling was a British aeronautical engineer and motorcycle racer. She developed a restrictor device for the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine that helped prevent fuel-flow problems during steep dives, improving the performance of aircraft such as the Spitfire and Hurricane.

Civil Engineering, Construction, and Manufacturing

Emily Roebling

Emily Warren Roebling was an American engineer and construction leader who helped oversee the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband became ill. Her leadership and dedication contributed to the successful completion of one of the nineteenth century’s most important bridges.

Elsie Eaves

Elsie Eaves was an American civil engineer and pioneer in construction data and project research. She analyzed information about construction costs, materials, and methods, helping make the industry more systematic and informed.

Nora Stanton Blatch Blarney

Nora Stanton Blatch Blarney was an American civil engineer, architect, and suffrage activist. Her work in engineering and architecture, together with her advocacy for women’s rights, helped open professional opportunities for future generations.

Kate Gleason

Kate Gleason was an American engineer, inventor, and business leader who gained expertise in machine tools and manufacturing. She also supported innovative construction projects, including affordable concrete homes, and opened doors for women in engineering and industry.

Electrical Engineering and Energy

Edith Clarke

Edith Clarke was an American electrical engineer and pioneer in power-system analysis. Her mathematical methods simplified the study of electrical networks and helped engineers design and operate large power grids more effectively.

Alice Parker

Alice H. Parker was an African American inventor who patented an improved central heating system in 1919. Her design used a furnace with multiple ducts to distribute warm air throughout a building and helped inspire later developments in modern home heating.

Medicine, Biology, and Human-Centered Design

Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau

Margaret Hutchinson Rousseau was an American chemical engineer known for her work in industrial process design. She helped develop methods for producing penicillin on a large scale during World War II, making this life-saving medicine more widely available.

Letitia Mumford Geer

Letitia Mumford Geer was an American nurse and inventor who patented an improved one-handed medical syringe in 1899. Her design made it easier to operate the syringe while using the other hand to steady a patient or perform another task.

Lillian Gilbreth

Lillian Gilbreth was an American engineer and psychologist who pioneered the study of human factors, workplace efficiency, and ergonomics. She helped make tools, workplaces, and household tasks safer and easier by applying scientific research to people’s needs.

Materials, Transportation, and Urban Innovation

Stephanie Kwolek

Stephanie Kwolek was an American chemist whose research led to the invention of Kevlar, a strong and lightweight fiber used in protective equipment, cables, tires, and other products. Her discovery shows how scientific curiosity can lead to innovations that protect and improve lives.

Mary Anderson

Mary Anderson was an American inventor who patented an early hand-operated windshield-wiper device in 1903. Her practical invention helped inspire the windshield wipers used on cars today.

Mary Walton

Mary Walton was an Irish-American inventor who developed solutions to reduce pollution and noise from urban railways in the late nineteenth century. She patented a system that redirected locomotive smoke into water-filled tanks and created an early method for reducing elevated railway noise.

Environmental Health and Public Policy

Gina McCarthy

Gina McCarthy is an American environmental health expert and public official who has worked to protect clean air, safe water, and healthy communities. She led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and later served as the first White House National Climate Advisor, helping shape policies addressing climate change and environmental risks.

What Engineers Do

Engineering combines curiosity, creativity, mathematics, science, and problem-solving. Engineers ask important questions, test ideas, learn from challenges, and build solutions that help people and communities.

Be Inspired

Every engineer begins with a question and the courage to explore. Learn about women engineers, try a hands-on challenge, and imagine what you could design next.

Your ideas can engineer tomorrow.