WoW Blog (Woman of the Week)

Edith Clarke was an electrical engineer who understood the value of mathematics. She held many "firsts" for women in electrical engineering:

• First woman to earn an electrical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• First woman to present a technical paper at the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE, now IEEE)
• First woman fellow of the AIEE
• First woman to teach in the engineering department of the University of Texas-Austin

Education and Early Career

Clarke was born in Maryland on February 10, 1883. Orphaned at a young age, she used her inheritance to attend Vassar College where she studied mathematics and astronomy. She taught mathematics after graduating in 1908. In 1911 she enrolled as a civil engineering student at the University of Wisconsin.

AT&T hired Clarke as a "computer" during the summer. In those days a computer was a person who solved mathematical equations.

Clarke was the first woman to graduate with an MS in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in 1919.

Work after Graduation

Unable to find work as an engineer, Clarke worked for General Electric, supervising computers in the Turbine Engineering Department. In the course of her work she developed the Clarke Calculator. It was a simple graphic device used to solve electrical equations.

Clark taught physics for one year, 1921, at Constantinople Women's College in Turkey. The following year she was hired by General Electric as an engineer in the Central Station Engineering Department. Clarke died on October 29, 1959.

Resources:

Agnes Scott College - Edith Clarke

Distinguished Women of Past and Present - Edith Clarke

Edison Tech Center - Edith Clarke

IEEE Global History Network - Edith Clarke

Maryland Women's Hall of Fame - Edith Clarke

Wikipedia - Edith Clarke

http://algebra-pafpu.ugr.es/mit/images/stories/mit/Clarkelaboratorio.jpg [image 1]

http://smartgirls09.pbworks.com/f/A-C%20Power%20Clarke.jpg [image 2]