#womensengineeringsociety

[materialsworld]

Celebrating female engineers

By Idha Valeur  It is 100 years ago since the Women’s Engineering Society formed and to mark the occasion, the group is launching a 100 years – 100 Women Engineers list as part of a project to celebrate and pay tribute to women’s achievements in various engineering fields. The aim is to let the spotlight shine bright on these extraordinary achievements that were accomplished in professional environments that were not women-friendly nor inclusive.  

The list was created via an online site open for nominations from the public, while a panel of judges consisting of Dawn Bonfield FIMMM, Nina Baker, Henrietta Heald, Anne Locker, Gordon Masterton and Will Whittow, edited the top 100 list. 

‘It has been inspiring to learn more about these magnificnet women who were pioneers in their field and had to contend with not only a legal system which prevented their participation, but an engineering profession which made it very difficult for women to succeed in the workplace. Depite these hostile conditions, many women did thrive, and that makes their stories even more compelling,’ Dawn Bonfield said. 

Included in the list are eight members of the Institute. These are: Cleone de Heveningham Benest (1880-1963), Marie Gayler (1891-1976), Monica Maurice (1908-1995), Marion McQuillan (1922-1998), Dorothy Pile (1902-1993), Jane Plant (1945-2016), Jean Taylor (1924-1999) and Constance Tipper (1894-1995). 

Two of these women were past IOM3 presidents. Materials World featured their bios in our anniversary issue earlier this year. And in light of the release of the list, we celebrate them and their achievements once again.

JANE ANN PLANT (1945-2016)

Credit: IOM3

Professor Jane Plant was the first female President of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy (IMM) in 2000-2002, immediately before its merger with the Institute of Materials to form IOM3.

Plant graduated in geology from Liverpool University, UK, and subsequently worked for the British Geological Survey (BGS) developing methods for geochemical mapping of the UK. As she progressed through BGS, she was awarded a PhD in geochemistry and later took a sabbatical to work for Middleton Exploration in North America on mineral exploration programmes. She was promoted to Chief Scientist of the BGS in 2000. Among her other appointments, she was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, Chair of the Government’s Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances, a visiting professor at Liverpool University and Joint Leader of the US Global Geochemical Baselines programme. Plant was a Fellow of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and of the Royal Society of Arts, and a Freeman of the City of London. She was awarded a CBE in 1997 for services to geosciences and the minerals industry. In 2000 she published a book titled Your Life in Your Hands about her successful battle with breast cancer, which became a best seller.

JEAN MARION TAYLOR (1924-1999)

Credit: IOM3

Jean Taylor served as President of the Institute of Wood Science (IWSc) from 1986-1988 and was probably the first woman member of IWSc. Taylor served in the WRAF during WWII working on airframe maintenance and graduated from Cardiff University, UK, with a degree in Zoology. She joined the Forest Products Research Laboratory (FPRL) under R C Fisher in 1949 and was part of the post-war intake who spent much of their careers at FPRL and made major contributions to wood science. Taylor’s work was concerned with the development of laboratory testing technology and prediction of real-life performance. 20 years later she became Technical Director at Protim, where she stayed until retirement.

IWSc played a large part in Taylor’s life – she was elected a Fellow in 1962 and served on various committees before becoming President at a time of considerable change for the Institute. Her clear analytical approach and gift for enthusing people was put to good use during this time.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Featured on the list were also the unnamed women of the construction group that re-built Waterloo Bridge in London during WWII, now commonly known as the Ladies’ Bridge. Also featured were Rachel Parsons and Laura Annie Willson MBE who founded the Women’s Engineering Society and the developer of the ‘Lyon Shape’ which was adopted by both airship R101 and submarine USS Albacore, Hilda Lyon, amongst many others.

The list accompanies the release of the book Magnificent Women and their Revolutionary Machines written by Henrietta Heald. The book tells the stories of several women in the engineering world and highlights their influence on the industry in a male-dominated profession. The title will also be listed in the October issue of Materials World and can be requested to review for the magazine. 

For more information on the celebration and Magnificent Women access their website here: https://bit.ly/2mnMAmo