Sheila Widnall

Sheila Marie Evans Widnall (born July 13, 1938) is an American aerospace researcher and Institute Professor Emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She served as United States Secretary of the Air Force from 1993 to 1997, making her the first woman to hold that post and the first woman to lead an entire branch of the United States Armed Forces in the Department of Defense. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2003.[4]

Sheila Widnall
18th United States Secretary of the Air Force
In office
August 6, 1993 – October 31, 1997
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byDonald B. Rice
Succeeded byF. Whitten Peters
Personal details
Born
Sheila Marie Evans

(1938-07-13) July 13, 1938
Tacoma, Washington, U. S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseWilliam Widnall
Children2
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, SM, ScD)
[1][2][3]

Life and career

Widnall was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington, graduating from the Aquinas Academy for Girls in 1956. She graduated from MIT with a SB in 1960, SM in 1961, and ScD in 1964, all in Aeronautics.[5] Her master's thesis was entitled Boundary layer stability over flexible surfaces and her doctoral thesis was entitled Unsteady loads on hydrofoils including free surface effects and cavitation, both under the supervision of Marten T. Landahl.[6][7]

Widnall was appointed as the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1986 and joined the Engineering Systems Division, was Chair of the Faculty 1979–1981, and has served as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993. In 1988 she was the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences that same year.[8] In 2000, Widnall was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[9]

On July 4, 1993, in the wake of the Tailhook scandal, President Bill Clinton announced her nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force.[10] The Senate received her nomination July 22, 1993, and confirmed her two weeks later on August 5, 1993, 183 days after inauguration and 197 after the office became vacant.[11] She was the first woman to head a branch of the US military.[4] During her tenure she handled the Kelly Flinn scandal.[12] She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985,[13] serving as vice-president from 1998 to 2005[14] and winning their Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2009.[15]

Widnall was a member of the board of investigation into the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

She currently works with the Lean Advancement Initiative. She married William Soule Widnall in June 1960. Her husband earned a doctorate degree from MIT in aerospace engineering and headed the MIT-Draper team that developed the Apollo GN&C system.[16] The couple has two grown children, William and Ann Marie.[17]

Research

Widnall's research has been focused on fluid mechanics, in particular the aerodynamics of high-speed vehicles, helicopters, aircraft wakes, and turbulence. One of her most notable works is on the elliptical instability mechanism with Raymond Pierrehumbert.[18]

Writings

References
  1. "Sheila E. Widnall." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1631006966. Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31. Updated: 12/12/1998.
  2. "Sheila Widnall." Notable Women Scientists. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1668000457. Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31. Updated: 11/05/2000
  3. "Sheila E. Widnall." Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present. Online. Gale Group, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1619002898 Fee. Accessed 2008-10-31. Updated: 01/01/2001.
  4. "Widnall, Sheila E." National Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2019-03-23.
  5. "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate". Vol. 103, no. 414. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1994. pp. 1094–1097. ISBN 978-0160436116.
  6. Widnall, Sheila E. (1961). Boundary layer stability over flexible surfaces (Thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  7. Widnall, Sheila E. (1964). Unsteady loads on hydrofoils including free surface effects and cavitation (Thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
  8. "Sheila Evans Widnall". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  9. "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-11-30.
  10. Jehl, Douglas (1993-07-04). "M.I.T. Professor Is First Woman Chosen as Secretary of Air Force". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  11. Palmer, Betsy (2005-03-23). 9/11 Commission Recommendations: The Senate Confirmation Process for Presidential Nominees (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  12. Stout, David (1997-05-24). "'Part of Me Has Died,' Pilot Says in Apology". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-31. Even as she asked in vain for an honorable discharge, First Lieut. Kelly J. Flinn said in a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force that having to leave the service was a punishment she would carry to her grave.
  13. National Academy of Engineering. "The Honorable Sheila E. Widnall".
  14. "National Academy of Engineering Presented Extraordinary Impact Awards". Aerospace America. 47 (10): B10. 2009.
  15. "NAE announces award winners John Casani and Sheila Widnall". 1 October 2009.
  16. Sheila Widnall introduces her husband William to give MIT lecture on Apollo (video)
  17. Sheila E. Widnall Facts - biography
  18. Pierrehumbert, Raymond; Widnall, Sheila (1982). "The Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Instabilities of a Spatially Periodic Shear Layer". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 114: 59–82. doi:10.1017/s0022112082000044. S2CID 122846528.

Further reading
  • "Widnall of MIT Is New President-elect Of AAAS." Physics Today (February 1986), p. 69.
  • Biography, "Dr. Sheila E. Widnall." Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Public Affairs, November 1993.
  • Dr. Sheila E. Widnall, "<https://archive.today/20130221044842/http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio_print.asp?bioID=7582>", July 23, 1997.
  • Air Force Times, August 2, 1993, p. 4.
  • Sears, William R., "Sheila E. Widnall: President-Elect of AAAS," in Association Affairs, June 6, 1986, pp. 1119–1200.
  • Stone, Steve, "Air Force Secretary Salutes Female Aviators," in Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, October 10, 1993, p. B3.
  • "USAF Head Approved," in Aviation Week & Space Technology, August 9, 1993, p. 26.
  • Biography, Dr. Sheila E. Widnall, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Public Affairs, November 1993.
  • Ewing, Lee, Air Force Times, Panelists Laud Widnall, Approve Her Nomination, August 2, 1993, p. 4.
  • Stone, Steve, Aviation Week & Space Technology, USAF Head Approved, August 9, 1993, p. 26.
  • Stone, Steve, Physics Today, Widnall of MIT Is New President-elect Of AAAS, February 1986, p. 69.
  • Biography, Dr. Sheila E. Widnall, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Public Affairs, November 1993.
  • Nature Q&A with Sheila Widnall
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