Kitty Joyner

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Kitty Joyner in front of a wind tunnel turbine in NACA Langley 1952

Kitty O'Brien Joyner (born July 11, 1916 in Charlottesville , Virginia , USA ; † August 16, 1993 ibid) was an American electrical engineer who worked for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and its successor organization, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was active. Shortly after becoming the first woman to graduate from the University of Virginia in engineering , she was hired by the NACA as the organization's first female engineer in 1939.

Education

From 1935 to 1937 Joyner attended Sweet Briar College, a liberal arts college for women in Sweet Briar, Virginia. She then studied electrical engineering at the University of Virginia ( Bachelor of Science 1939). She had to fight for admission to study engineering at the university through legal proceedings. During her studies at this university, she was a member of the Sorority student association Chi Omega . Upon graduation, she was awarded the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award.

Kitty O'Brien Joyner 1964

job

In September 1939, the NACA Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory (LMAL) in Hampton , Virginia, hired Joyner as an electrical engineer. She was the first female engineer to work at NACA. The LMAL has been developing wind tunnels since the 1920s. During World War II , the LMAL tested almost all US military aircraft types to improve their aerodynamics . With the renaming of the LMAL in Langley Research Center in 1958, the research work was realigned away from pure aeronautical research towards collaboration in NASA's space projects .

Joyner worked for NACA / NASA for several decades and eventually rose to become Divisional Director of the Cost Estimating Branch, Office of Engineering and Technical Services . She oversaw several wind tunnels , including supersonic wind tunnels . Joyner left NASA in May 1971.

Joyner was involved in various engineering organizations. She was a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a lifetime honorary member of the Virginia Peninsula Engineers Club.

Private

Joyner was married to the physicist Upshur T. Joyner, who also worked for 40 years at the Langley Research Center at NACA / NASA. Kitty and Upshur Joyner retired together in 1971.

The couple lived in Poquoson , Virginia, and had two children, a son who died of leukemia in 1990 at the age of 47 , and a daughter. Kitty and Upshur Joyner both died in 1993, just a few months in a row.

In addition to her professional activities as an engineer, she was the first chairman of the Charles Parish Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution , which an annual scholarship named after her. She was also honored with the United Daughters of the Confederacy Winnie Davis Award.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Trivia Lineberry: Obituaries - Kitty Joyner . In: Daily Press . August 20, 1993. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Kitty O'Brien Joyner . In: NASA CRGIS . NASA. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  3. ^ Faces / scholarships / degrees / honors . In: Daily Press . July 5, 1989. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Joyner, Kitty
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Brien Joyner, Kitty
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American electrical engineer
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Charlottesville
DATE OF DEATH August 16, 1993
Place of death Charlottesville