The Long Read: Discovering the Victorian Engineer Henrietta Vansittart, part 1
Name
2024-04-16_TheLongReadDiscoveringTheVictorianEngineerHenriettaVansittartPart1_FINAL.pdf
Description
visibility:open
Size
9.73 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (CRC64NVME)
AAC8hTEDxBo=
Resource type
Blog post
Creator (person)
Rees Koerner, Emily
Date published
January 27, 2020
Abstract
In the third video of the Electrifying Women: 5 Key themes series, we talked about how women invented and innovated before significant new opportunities opened up for them as engineers in the first half of the 20th century. We highlighted the career of Hertha Ayrton, who was elected the first female member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1899 for solving problems in the performance of arc lights. While Ayrton’s name is commemorated in prizes, plaques, street names and buildings, most women’s careers in engineering have often been overlooked or erased. In fact, Ayrton was not even the first British woman in engineering who held patents. This blog post focuses on the life and work of Henrietta Vansittart (1833-1883) who held the patent for the Lowe-Vansittart propeller. This propeller was widely used in the Royal Navy’s ships and was awarded a first class diploma at the Kensington exhibition in 1871. A model of the propeller is held by the Science Museum Group.
Project(s)
Electrifying Women: Understanding the Long History of Women in Engineering
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Arts and Humanities Research Council | |
Publisher
Science Museum Group
Official URL
Rights statement
In Copyright