Ethel H. Bailey | |
|---|---|
| Born | 18 August 1896 Houlton, Maine, USA |
| Died | 5 July 1985 Concord, Massachusetts, USA |
| Resting place | Farmington, Franklin, Maine, USA |
| Education | George Washington University |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Mechanical engineering |
| Employer(s) | Raytheon Manufacturing Company Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Ethel H. Bailey (18 August 1896 – 5 July 1985) was an Americanmechanical engineer who began her working life in aviation and went on to develop radar and spectroscopic equipment. She was called a 'trailblazer' by fellow engineerMargaret Ingels in a 1952 speech.[1] Bailey was a member of theAmerican Automotive Society (the first woman to be admitted as a full member, in 1926[1][2]), theAmerican Society of Mechanical Engineers, theSociety of American Military Engineers, and theNational Society of Professional Engineers.[3] She was also a member of the BritishWomen's Engineering Society and contributed to their journal,The Woman Engineer.
Ethel H. Bailey was born on 18 August 1896 inHoulton, Maine, USA, to Walter and Anna Bailey (née Sanders). She had one sister, Margaret (b. 1889).[4]
Bailey had been interested in radios and motorboats at high school, and during the First World War she became an assistant inspector ofLiberty L-12 aeroplane engines for the U.S. government, at a test airfield in Indianapolis.[5] After the war she studied at the Michigan State Automobile School in Detroit in 1918, andGeorge Washington University in 1920.[6]
In 1920, Bailey joined the staff of theSociety of Automotive Engineers (SAE) as a research engineer and became the organisation's first full female member in 1926.[6][7] (Marie Luhring had been admitted as an associate member of the SAE in 1920).[8] In June 1925 she published a paper inThe Woman Engineer journal entitledA Ternary Alloy Bearing Metal (The Development of a Material of Unusual Wearing Qualities).[9]
In September 1925 she travelled to Paris where she visitedMarie Curie at her home.[9] She then travelled to London, where she represented the Society of Automotive Engineers at the very first International Conference of Women in Science, Industry and Commerce organised byCaroline Haslett and theWomen's Engineering Society during theBritish Empire Exhibition at Wembley.[10] She spoke on 'Automotive Research' undertaken by the SAE, speaking alongside physical chemistIsabel Hadfield and electrical engineerMargaret Partridge. She was also credited as part of the Advisory Committee for the high profile conference.[9]
In 1929, Bailey wrote an appreciation ofKatharine Wright Haskell (1874—1929) the sister, supporter and business manager ofaviation pioneersWilbur and Orville Wright, for the American magazineAirway Age, and reproduced in the BritishThe Woman Engineer journal. She ended the article with "Orville the Flyer, Wilbur the Adviser and Katharine the Inspirer".[9]
In 1929 she moved to a new job at theGeneral Electric Co.’s Bloomfield works.[10]
During theWorld War II, Bailey worked procuring radar equipment at the Signal Corps Radar Laboratory, and went on to organize radar equipment for the U.S. Navy, as a mechanical engineer at theRaytheon Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts.[11] In 1945 she was director of the technical publications division of a printing company in Boston, Massachusetts. She went on to be research assistant at theDepartment of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, developing spectroscopic equipment[12]
Ethel H Bailey died on 5 July 1985 inConcord, Massachusetts, at the age of 88, and was buried in Farmington, Maine.