Page 31 - Gi flipbook June/July 2018

Ada Lovelace Hedy Lamarr Stephanie L Kwolek Mary Jackson

by DuPont to scout for the next MARY JACKSON engineers of any background were
generation of fibres capable of a rarity. In the 1950s, she very well
performing in extreme conditions. Mary Jackson grew up in Hampton, may have been the only black female
This assignment involved preparing Virginia. After graduating with aeronautical engineer in the field.
intermediates, synthesizing aromatic highest honours from high school, For nearly two decades she enjoyed
polyamides of high molecular weight, she then continued her education at a productive engineering career,
dissolving the polyamides in solvents, Hampton Institute, earning degrees authoring or co-authoring a dozen or
and spinning these solutions into in mathematics and physical science. so research reports, most focused on
fibres. She unexpectedly discovered Following graduation, Mary taught the behaviour of the boundary layer
that under certain conditions large in Maryland prior to joining NASA at of air around airplanes.
numbers of the molecules of these the Langley Memorial Aeronautical As the years progressed, the
rod-like polyamides become lined Laboratory’s segregated West Area promotions slowed, and she became
up in parallel, that is, form liquid Computing section in 1951, frustrated at her inability to break into
crystalline solutions, and that these reporting to the group’s supervisor management-level grades. In 1979,
solutions can be spun directly Dorothy Vaughan. seeing that the glass ceiling was the
into oriented fibres of very high After two years in the computing rule rather than the exception for the
strength and stiffness. Following pool, Mary Jackson received an centre’s female professionals, she made
this breakthrough, many fibres were offer to work for engineer Kazimierz a final, dramatic career change, leaving
spun from liquid crystalline solutions, Czarnecki in the 4x4ft Supersonic engineering and taking a demotion to fill
including the yellow Kevlar fibre. Pressure Tunnel, a 60,000 the open position of Langley’s Federal
Kevlar has gone on to save lives as horsepower wind tunnel capable Women’s Program Manager. There, she
a lightweight body armour for police of blasting models with winds worked hard to impact the hiring and
and the military; to convey messages approaching twice the speed of sound. promotion of the next generation of
across the ocean as a protector Czarnecki offered Mary hands-on all of NASA’s female mathematicians,
of undersea optical-fibre cable; to experience conducting experiments in engineers and scientists.
suspend bridges with super-strong the facility, and eventually suggested Mary retired from Langley in 1985.
ropes; and to be used in countless that she enter a training program that Among her many honours were an
more applications from protective would allow her to earn a promotion Apollo Group Achievement Award,
clothing for athletes and scientists to from mathematician to engineer. and being named Langley’s Volunteer
canoes, drumheads, and frying pans. Trainees had to take graduate of the Year in 1976. ■
Kwolek received many awards level maths and physics in after-work
for her invention of the technology courses managed by the University ■ International Women in
behind Kevlar fibre, including induction of Virginia. Because the classes were Engineering Day takes place every
into the National Inventors Hall of held at then-segregated Hampton year on 23 June. We encourage
Fame in 1994, only the fourth woman High School, however, Mary needed everyone to join in to help celebrate
member of 113 at the time. In 1996 special permission from the City of women in engineering and
she received the National Medal of Hampton to join her white peers in encourage more girls and young
Technology, and in 1997 the Perkin the classroom. Never one to flinch women to consider engineering as a
Medal, presented by the Society of in the face of a challenge, Mary career. The theme for INWED 2018
Chemical Industry. In 2003, she was completed the courses, earned the is ‘Raising the bar’. To find out more,
inducted into the National Women’s promotion, and in 1958 became visit www.inwed.org.uk. Keep up
Hall of Fame. NASA’s first black female engineer. with the conversation on Twitter:
Kwolek died in Delaware at the Mary Jackson began her engineering @INWED1919 #INWED18
age of 90. career in an era in which female #RaisingTheBar

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