Sheila Marie Evans[5] was born to Rolland and Genevieve Evans[6] and raised inTacoma, Washington, and graduated from theAquinas Academy for Girls in 1956. She graduated from MIT with aSB in 1960,SM in 1961, andScD in 1964, all inAeronautics.[7] Her master's thesis was entitledBoundary layer stability over flexible surfaces, and her doctoral thesis was entitledUnsteady loads on hydrofoils including free surface effects and cavitation, both under the supervision of Marten T. Landahl.[8][9]
After earning her PhD in 1964, Widnall was hired as the first female faculty member in the MIT School of Engineering.[6] She was appointed theAbby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1986 and joined the Engineering Systems Division. She served as Chair of the Faculty from 1979–1981, and as MIT's AssociateProvost from 1992–1993. In 2020, she retired from the MIT faculty after 64 years.[6]
On July 4, 1993, in the wake of theTailhook scandal,PresidentBill Clinton announced Widnall's nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force.[12] Prior to her nomination, she had served as chair of theAir Force Academy's Board of Visitors, as well as serving on several Air Force advisory boards. The Senate received her nomination on July 22, 1993, and confirmed her two weeks later on August 5, 1993, 183 days afterinauguration and 197 after the office became vacant.[13] She was the first woman to head a branch of the US military.[4] During her tenure, she handled theKelly Flinn scandal.[14] She was elected to theNational Academy of Engineering in 1985,[15] serving as vice-president from 1998 to 2005,[16]and winning their Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2009.[17]
She married William Soule Widnall in June 1960.[5] Her husband, the son of former New Jersey congressmanWilliam B. Widnall,[5] earned a doctorate degree from MIT in aerospace engineering and headed the MIT-Draper team that developed the ApolloGN&C system.[18] The couple has two grown children, William and Ann Marie.[19]
Widnall's research has been focused onfluid mechanics, particularly the aerodynamics of high-speed vehicles, helicopters, aircraft wakes, and turbulence. One of her most notable works is on the elliptical instability mechanism, in collaboration withRaymond Pierrehumbert.[20]
^"Sheila E. Widnall." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1631006966. Fee. Accessed October 31, 2008. Updated: 12/12/1998.
^"Sheila Widnall." Notable Women Scientists. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1668000457. Fee. Accessed October 31, 2008. Updated: 11/05/2000
^"Sheila E. Widnall." Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present. Online. Gale Group, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008.http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1619002898 Fee. Accessed October 31, 2008. Updated: 01/01/2001.
^"Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate". Vol. 103, no. 414. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1994. pp. 1094–1097.ISBN978-0160436116.
^Stout, David (May 24, 1997)."'Part of Me Has Died,' Pilot Says in Apology".New York Times. RetrievedOctober 31, 2008.Even as she asked in vain for an honorable discharge, First Lieut. Kelly J. Flinn said in a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force that having to leave the service was a punishment she would carry to her grave.
^Pierrehumbert, Raymond; Widnall, Sheila (1982). "The Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Instabilities of a Spatially Periodic Shear Layer".Journal of Fluid Mechanics.114:59–82.doi:10.1017/s0022112082000044.S2CID122846528.
Johnson, Vicki (2025). Chapter 30 "Sheila E. Widnall". In Craig, Cecilia; Teig, Holly; Kimberling, Debra; Williams, Janet; Tietjen, Jill; Johnson, Vicki (eds.). Women Engineering Legends 1952-1976: Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award Recipients. Springer Cham.ISBN9783032002235.
