Bertha Lamme

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Bertha Lamme (1892)
Lamb at work

Bertha Aranelle Lamme (later married Feicht ; born December 16, 1869 in Bethel Township ( Ohio ), † November 19 or 20, 1943 in Pittsburgh ) was an American electrical engineer . After graduating, she worked for Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company as the first female engineer. She was the younger sister of Benjamin Lamme , who was also an electrical engineer and with whom she worked closely.

biography

Bertha Lamme was born on her parents' farm in Bethel Township near Springfield , Ohio , and attended Olive Branch High School in nearby New Carlisle . She studied, as its brother at the Ohio State University and received in 1893 the first woman in the United States a degree in mechanical engineering (mechanical engineer) , specializing in electrical engineering . During their studies, the two siblings planned to set up a company to manufacture mechanical toys .

Bertha Lamme finally came to Westinghouse not through her brother's mediation, but because the shop foreman Albert Schmid had become aware of her thesis (“An Analysis of Tests of a Westinghouse Railway Generator”) . She worked for Westinghouse for twelve years, where her area of ​​responsibility included the design and development of electric motors and generators , in particular mathematical analyzes and calculations , which were of crucial importance for component development, especially since the theoretical principles of alternating current were still largely unknown. The well-known mathematician Charles Steinmetz held a comparable position at the rival company General Electric .

Already in the development of incurred under great time pressure electrical system for the World's Columbian Exposition ( World's Fair ) in Chicago in 1893, she was involved, as well at the hydroelectric plant for the power plant in Niagara Falls and the Manhattan Elevated Railway , which after the success of the exhibition developed at Westinghouse. Lamme, although still young and inexperienced, bore considerable responsibility here.

The magazine Young People's Weekly from Chicago described it in 1907 as a "phenomenon with the slide rule " ( "slide rule phenomenon") .

In 1905 Lamme married her colleague Russel Feicht and ended her career. In 1910 their daughter Florence was born, who later worked as a physicist for the United States Bureau of Mines . Lamb's brother Benjamin lived at times in the same household.

In contrast to the male engineers around her, little is known about Bertha Lamme's achievements. However, it can be assumed that even after her own career ended, she had a significant influence on both her brother and her husband and continued to work on engineering issues.

literature

  • Joseph J. Cunningham: Bertha Lamme and the Development of Practical Alternating Current Systems. In: Proceedings of the IEEE. Vol. 105, No. 8, August 2017, pp. 1574–1578 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Commons : Bertha Lamme  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Twelve Days: Bertha Lamme was first female engineering grad on library.osu.edu
  2. ↑ Bertha Lamme Feicht in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved August 10, 2019.
  3. ^ A b Joseph Cunningham: Bertha Lamme and the Development of Practical Alternating Current Systems. P. 1575.
  4. ↑ Female engineer not quite lost to history on springfieldnewssun.com
  5. ↑ a b c d Marilyn Ogilvie, Joy Harvey (Ed.): The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Vol. 2, Routledge, New York / London 2000, ISBN 0-415-92040-X , pp. 736 f.
  6. ↑ a b c Women's History Month. Remembering Bertha Lamme-Feicht on mae.osu.edu
  7. ↑ a b c Bertha Lamme was nation's first female mechanical engineering graduate on engineering.osu.edu
  8. ↑ a b c d e Bertha Lamme, Engineer at heinzhistorycenter.org
  9. ^ Joseph Cunningham: Bertha Lamme and the Development of Practical Alternating Current Systems. P. 1574.
  10. ^ A b c d Joseph Cunningham: Bertha Lamme and the Development of Practical Alternating Current Systems. P. 1576.
  11. ^ Joseph Cunningham: Bertha Lamme and the Development of Practical Alternating Current Systems. P. 1577.
personal data
SURNAME Lamme, Bertha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lamme, Bertha Aranelle (full name); Lamme-Feicht, Bertha; Feicht, Bertha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American engineer
DATE OF BIRTH December 16, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Bethel Township ( Ohio )
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1943 or November 20, 1943
Place of death Pittsburgh