Winifred Hackett | |
---|---|
Born | 2 October 1906 Kings Norton, England |
Died | 3 June 1994 |
Occupation | Engineer |
Winifred Hackett (2 October 1906 – 3 June 1994) was an electrical and aeronautical engineer who worked on guided weapon systems and the DEUCE computer.
Hackett was born in Kings Norton, an area of Birmingham on 2 October 1906.
She attended King Edward's Girls’ High School in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Hackett was an exceptional student and won a scholarship whilst at the school. She originally planned to study architecture and for a time attended UCL with this purpose, but decided to change academic direction, returning to Birmingham to study engineering instead.[1]
In 1929 Hackett was the first woman to graduate from the University of Birmingham with an engineering degree,[2][3] and won the prize for the 'Best Engineer in the University of Birmingham' in 1930.[3] Hackett's academic success resulted in the award of the Bowen Scholarship for Electrical Engineering, which enabled her to stay on to earn an MSc.[4] A further grant from the Institution of Electrical Engineers' War Thanksgiving Education and Research Fund in 1930 supported her a to earn a PhD on selenium cells, again at the University of Birmingham.[5]
She then became an aeronautical engineer.
Hackett's first job was at the British Electrical and Allied Industries Research Association at Perivale[6] and then Leatherhead, where she worked as a Junior Technical Assistant.[5] During this time she was researching dielectrics and published a number of papers on dielectrics, capacitors and DC design.[7] She encouraged colleagues, including Miriam Violet Griffith, to join the Women's Engineering Society.[6]
By the 1950s Hackett was head of the Guided Weapons Division at aerospace and defence company English Electric, working on Mathematical Physics,[8][9] and based first in Luton and later in Stevenage. She was in charge of the DEUCE computer and its programming on punched cards and paper tape. The Deuce was a commercialised version of Alan Turing’s ACE computer. of which 33 were sold and which had a library of over 1,000 programmes.[2] The period when Hackett ran the guided weapons division also saw the development of the Thunderbird surface to air missile and other ballistic missiles.[2]
In the early 1960s Hackett joined the Manchester Business School as a Senior Research Fellow[10] where she undertook statistical analysis.[11] It was here that the future software designer Judy Butland became her mathematical assistant and computer.[12]
Having been involved with the Women's Engineering Society since 1929, particularly the Manchester branch, in 1943 Hackett was elected to the governing council. In August that year she chaired a meeting which set up a branch in Birmingham, and shortly afterwards was elected vice president of the main organisation.[7]
She became the President of the Women's Engineering Society (WES) in 1946,[13] succeeding Margaret Partridge in the role. Hackett's successor as president was Frances Heywood.
In 1950, she and fellow senior WES members, Ira Rischowski and Sheila Leather published a report on equal pay for women in engineering, which concluded that there was "no justification for lower salary scales for women".[14]
Hackett was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.[8]
Hackett's interests included fashion and the theatre, and very accurate map reading. Even in retirement, when her own health was suffering, she devised various aids for disabled people.[4]
Winifred Hackett died in on 3 June 1994.[2]
http://www.magnificentwomen.co.uk/engineer-of-the-week/88-winifred-hackett