Mystery Match-Ups Made Many Merry
Famous Engineers
- Neil Alden Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969,
at 10:56 p.m. EDT. He and "Buzz" Aldren spent about 2 and one-half hours walking
on the moon, while pilot Michael Collins waited above in the Apollo 11 command module.
Armstrong received his BS in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University and an MS in
aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
- Alexander Calder , a native of Pennsylvania, received his degree in mechanical
engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, New Jersey, and shortly
thereafter moved to Paris, where he studied art and began to create his now-famous
mobiles. Many of his large sculptures are on permanent outdoor display at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the first major retrospective of his work was
held in 1950.
- Lillian Gilbreth is considered a pioneer in the field of time-and-motion studies,
showing companies how to increase efficiency and production through budgeting of time,
energy, and money. Dr. Gilbreth received her Ph.D. in psychology from Brown University and
was a professor at Purdue’s School of Mechanical Engineering, Newark School of
Engineering and the University of Wisconsin. She is "Member No. 1" of the
Society of Women Engineers.
- John F. Welch, Jr. received his engineering undergraduate degree in his
home-state at the University of Massachusetts. After he earned his Ph.D. in chemical
engineering from the University of Illinois, he accepted a job offer from General
Electric. The rest is history -- he became Chairman and CEO of General Electric in 1981.
- Herbert Hoover, having graduated from Stanford University in California, was a 26
-year-old mining ineer in Tientsin, China, when the city was attacked by 5,000 Chinese
troops and 25,000 members of the martial arts group known as the Boxers. (The Boxer
Rebellion was a violent 1900 uprising against foreign business interests in China.) Hoover
took charge of setting up barricades to protect Tientsin until its rescue after 28 days of
bombardment. Thirty years later Herbert Hoover became the 31st President of the
United States; he and his wife continued to speak Chinese when they wanted privacy in the
White House.
- Hedy Lamarr, a famous 1940’s actress not formally trained as an engineer, is
credited with several sophisticated inventions, among them a unique anti-jamming device
for use against Nazi radar. Years after her patent had expired, Sylvania adapted the
design for a device that today speeds satellite communications around the world. She is
also credited with the lines "Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand
still and look stupid."
- Grace Murray Hopper, a computer engineer and Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy,
developed the first computer compiler in 1952 and the computer program language COBOL.
Upon discovering that a moth had jammed the works of an early computer, Hopper popularized
the term "bug."
- Montel Williams, a highly decorated former Naval engineer and Naval Intelligence
Officer, is now an author of inspirational books and host of a popular syndicated
television talk show.
- Bonnie Dunbar, NASA astronaut, earned her BS and MS degrees in ceramic
engineering from the University of Washington and a doctorate in mechanical / biomedical
engineering from the University of Houston. While working at Rockwell International, Dr.
Dunbar helped to develop the ceramic tiles that enable the space shuttle to survive
re-entry. She has had an opportunity to test those tiles first hand, as a four-time
astronaut including a stint on the first shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space
Station Mir.
- Sir Sanford Fleming, a civil engineer and scientist, played a key role in
developing the Canadian railway system and created the worldwide system of Standard Time.
- Elijah McCoy, born in Ontario and educated in Scotland as a mechanical engineer,
returned to Detroit and in 1872 invented a lubricator for steam engines. His new oiling
device revolutionized the industrial machine industry by allowing machines to remain in
motion while being oiled. This device, although imitated by other designers, was so
successful that people inspecting new equipment would ask if it contained the real
McCoy.
- Beulah Louise Henry was known in the 1920’s and 30’s as "the lady
Edison" for the many inventions she patented, including a vacuum ice cream freezer, a
typewriter that made multiple copies without carbon paper, and a bobbinless lockstitch
sewing machine. Henry founded manufacturing companies to produce her creations, making a
fortune in the process.
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