Episode 87: Herta Ayrton
The time was April 28, 1854, the place Portsea, Hampshire, England. Phoebe Sarah Marks was born. As an adult, she went by Hertha after a poem by Algernon Charles Swinburne of the same name. At 9 years old she attended her aunt’s school in north London. Hertha couldn’t afford college, so her friends Barbara Bodichon and Ottilie Blind, along with other super ladies like suffragette Helen Taylor, Sophia Goldsmith, and the writer George Eliot paid for Hertha to go to Girton College. While at college Hertha was killing it all over the place, she was personally tutored by physicist Richard Glazebrook, she built a sphygmomanometer which is a blood pressure meter, she was the leader of the chorus, she founded the Girton Fire Brigade and started a math club. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1881 from the University of London.
She filed for her very first patent on May 3, 1884, for the line-divider aka the ‘Draftsman’s Dividing Instrument’. It was granted on January 6, 1885. The line divider is an engineering drawing tool used to divide a line into any number of equal parts and also to enlarge or reduce figures, basically, it's a scaling tool and an icon in the architectural industry.
From 1884 until she passed away on August 26, 1923, she registered 26 patents, five on mathematical dividers, 13 on arc lamps and electrodes, and the rest on air propulsion.
Caryatid: Malena Español and Dina Katabi
Malena Español is a mathematician originally from Argentina. She has a degree in Exact Sciences and Natural Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires and a doctorate from the University of Tuft in the Netherlands. Today she works as a Professor at the University of Arizona in the US. She is a Karen EDGE Fellow, which is a fellowship that supports the research of mid-career mathematicians who are members of an underrepresented group.
Dina Katabi is the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT and the director of the MIT Wireless Center. She’s a McArthur Grant Fellow, also known as the Genius Grant. Dina has bachelor's degree from the University of Damascus and a Master's and PhD in Computer Science from MIT. Dina is a director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and her research includes developing a wireless technology that can detect people through walls to be used by medical professionals to tell if people have fallen or need help. The technology also aims to measure cardiac rhythm and oxygen levels wirelessly, without having to put sensors in the body.
Episode Notable Mentions
Cool video explaining line divider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmi1N2__occ
References
Ann. “The Karen EDGE Fellowship Program - THE EDGE PROGRAM.” THE EDGE PROGRAM, 2 May 2023, www.edgeforwomen.org/karen-edge-fellowship-program.
Bruton, Elizabeth. “The Life and Material Culture of Hertha Marks Ayrton (1854-1923): Suffragette, Physicist, Mathematician and Inventor - Science Museum Group Journal.” Science Museum Group Journal, 8 Nov. 2022, journal.sciencemuseum.org.uk/browse/issue-10/the-life-and-material-culture-of-hertha-ayrton.
Infobae. “Día De Las Mujeres En Las Matemáticas: Quiénes Son Las Más Destacadas Y Qué Contribuciones Hicieron.” Infobae, 12 May 2023, www.infobae.com/america/ciencia-america/2023/05/12/dia-de-las-mujeres-en-las-matematicas-quienes-son-las-mas-destacadas-y-que-contribuciones-hicieron.
ProfDrafting. “Manual Drafting: The Divider Tool.” YouTube, 3 Aug. 2022, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmi1N2__occ.
Stadler, Marta Macho. “Una Nueva Forma De Monitorizar Los Signos Vitales (Que Puede Atravesar Paredes).” Mujeres Con Ciencia, 23 Sept. 2018, mujeresconciencia.com/2018/09/23/una-nueva-forma-de-monitorizar-los-signos-vitales-que-puede-atravesar-paredes.
Wikipedia contributors. “Dina Katabi.” Wikipedia, Sept. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dina_Katabi.
---. “Hertha Ayrton.” Wikipedia, Oct. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hertha_Ayrton.
Images:
Bruton, Elizabeth. “Figure 3 : Cover page of US Patent 310.” Science Museum Group Journal, 2018, https://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/article/hertha-marks-ayrton/#main-body.
“The Weston arc lamp, opened and closed” and “The Electric Arc Book” Hertha Marks Ayerton. 14 October 2018, https://herthaayrton.blogspot.com/2020/10/descubrimientos-y-aportaciones.html
