Maude Elsa Gardner, better known as Elsa Gardner, was an
aeronautical engineer who worked with the U.S. Navy through two world
wars. She was the first woman to be
accepted to aeronautical engineering institutions.
Gardner was born on January 9, 1894 in Brooklyn, New
York. When she was six years old she
suffered from a joint disease that left one leg shorter than the other; despite
multiple operations she was left with a limp.
Her family had enough money to send the children, including the daughters,
to college. Gardner studied mechanical
engineering at St. Lawrence College.
She worked as a bookkeeper and statistician until World War
I when she became a gauge examiner at the British Ministry of Munitions of War
in New York City. Gardner was eventually
transferred to Bliss Company Torpedo Works on behalf of the U.S. Navy. She helped bring production up to standard
for all gauges used in torpedoes.
Gardner then laid out the course for the torpedo testing range at Sag
Harbor. As she worked, Gardner continued
studying engineering at the collegiate level at New York University, Pratt
Institute, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Trying to find employment during the great depression was
difficult, especially for a woman like Gardner.
She held a variety of jobs including working for the American Society of
the Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in Manhattan.
She wrote abstracts and reviewed technical literature that was presented
in French and English. Gardner started a
card index system to organize all of the aeronautical, mechanical, and
automotive engineering subjects.
Gardner's turning point came when she became a review editor
at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio. She
wrote the Technical Data Digest, a 50 page semi-monthly publication that
contained article abstracts. The
material she wrote was also published in the Journal of Aeronautical
Sciences. Her work helped both U.S.
military and commercial sectors stay current and in sync.
Gardner's efforts gave her an invitation to join the
Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences (IAS).
She was both the first woman to be accepted and the first to be
invited. She would continue her work in
organizing and indexing data through World War II. She retired after being diagnosed with cancer
and died in February 1963.
Resources:
Dayton Innovation Legacy - Maude Elsa Gardner -
Aeronautical engineer through two world wars
http://www.engineersclubfoundation.org/zenphoto/index.php?album=maudeelsagardner&image=maudelsagardner1sm.jpg
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