Edith Clarke, American Electrical

Edith Clarke (February 10, 1883 - October 29, 1959) was an American electrical engineer. After being orphaned at age 12, she was raised by her older... more

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Edith Clarke, American Electrical

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Edith Clarke (February 10, 1883 - October 29, 1959) was an American electrical engineer. After being orphaned at age 12, she was raised by her older sister. She used her inheritance to study mathematics and astronomy at Vassar College, where she graduated in 1908. After college, Clarke taught mathematics and physics, briefly studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but left to become a human computer at AT&T in 1912. In 1918, Clarke enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the following year she became the first woman to earn an M.S. in electrical engineering from MIT. Unable to find work as an engineer, she went to work for General Electric as a supervisor of computers in the Turbine Engineering Department. In 1921, she invented the Clarke calculator, a simple graphical device that solved equations involving electric current, voltage and impedance in power transmission lines. The device could solve line equations involving hyperbolic functions ten times faster than previous methods. In 1943, Edith Clarke wrote an influential textbook in the field of power engineering, Circuit Analysis of A-C Power Systems, based on her notes for lectures to GE engineers. In 1947, she joined the faculty of the Electrical Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin, making her the first female professor of Electrical Engineering in the country. She died in 1959 at the age of 76. No photographer credited, undated.

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April 22nd, 2019