Sheila Marie Evans Widnall

Born: 1938

Country of Birth: USA

Nationality: USA

Ethnicity: White

MIT SB 1960, SM 1961, and ScD 1964, all in Aeronautics & Astronautics

"“We worked together on various projects, building things. He fixed things and I’d tag along and he’d show me how. I was 20 years old before I realized you could hire people to do work on your house,” (news.mit.edu); “When I came to MIT and was introduced to my freshman advisor, he said “Why are you here?’, Which I took as an insult. I thought, ‘This guy is a jerk.’ But every other advisor was supportive.” (news.mit.edu); ina discussion about increasing the number of women at MIT she said “People in the administration were saying, ‘We have to do more advertising we have to do more searching” for women students, Widnall says. “And I said, ‘Why are we searching? The women we should admit are the women who have applied.’” (news.mit.edu); in discussing sexual harassment she noted, “Schools have to create a climate that supports proper behavior,” Widnall says. “They don’t do it by passing rules and regulations; they change the environment.” (news.mit.edu); "There is an instability called the Widnall instability. It deals with the instability of vortex flows, and it affects both vortex rings and also the wakes of aircraft. One of the applications of this kind of fluid mechanics is in the question of, how long do aircraft wakes live? And that's kind of important, because if you land a plane after somebody else has landed, then you could get caught up, and your plane would tip over, and you would fly into the ground and be killed. So it is kind of a, technically, very important issue. It totally controls the separation of aircraft landing at airports. Well, I think for somebody in fluid dynamics it's always nice to have an instability named after you. That's a great honor." (infinite.mit.edu)"

— Sheila Marie Evans Widnall

Field of Study: Airflow Tech; Fluid Dynamics

Institution/Corporation: MIT; US Air Force

Degrees & Memberships: Honorary Degree: New England College, 1976; Lawrence University, 1987; Cedar Crest College, 1988; Mount Holyoke College, 1991; Smith College, 1990; Lafayette College, 1993; Princeton University, 1994; Suffolk Law, 1994; University of Connecticut, 2000; Northeastern University, 2000; Colorado School of Mines, 2000; The Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden, 2002; Polytechnic University, 2003; Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 2003; University of Puget Sound, 2007; Claremont Graduate University, 2008; Oxford University, 2008; Northwestern University, 2008; Member: Board of Directors, AIAA, 1975-1977, President, 1999-2000; Member: Space and Aeronautics Board, NRC, 1975-1978; NRC/NAS Committee on NASA Aeronautics Program Reductions, 1982; Advisory Committees: NSF-Div. of Eng., 1975; USAF: WPAFB/ASD, 1972-1975; Military Airlift Committee NDTA, 1985-1989; NSF, Dir. of Eng., 1981-1987, Vice-Chair, 1984-1987; Visiting Committee: Princeton U. Dept. Mech. & Aero Eng., 1976-1983; APS Division of Fluid Dynamics; Exec. Comm., 1979-1982), NSF Comm., 1981-82; APS Panel on Public Affairs, 1984-1987; USNC/TAM, 1984-1988; President, American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS, 1988; NRC/NAE Panel on the Education and Utilization of Engineers, 1981-1984; Board of Visitors: USAF Academy, 1978-1984, Chairman, 1980-1982; Associate Editor, AIAA Journal of Aircraft, 1972-1975; Physics of Fluids, 1981-85; ASME Journal of Applied Mech., 1982-1987; ASME Comm. on Fluid Dynamics, 1982-85; AAAS: Board of Directors, 1982-1989, President, 1988-1989, Chairman, 1988-1989), Editorial Board Science, 1985-1987; NAS Committee on Scientific Responsibility, 1990-91; NAE Board on Engineering Education, 1991-1993; Draper Prize Committee, 1988-1993, Chair, 1992-1993; NAE Aerospace Peer Committee,, 1989-1991; NAE Council, 1992-1993; NAE Vice President, 1998-2005 ; National Research Council Governing Board, 1999-2005; Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, National Academies, 1999-2006 ; Columbia Accident Investigation Board, 2003; NAS Committee on Law and Science, 2001-2008; NAE Gordon Prize Committee, 2007-; AIAA Fellow Selection Committee, 2007; NAE Peer Committee Aerospace Section, 2009-present; National Academy of Engineering (1985), president of the American Association for the Advance of Science (AAAS), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Association for the Advance of Science

Awards: 2003 National Women's Hall of Fame; 2009 Arthur M. Bueche Award; Amer. Inst. of Aero. and Astro. Lawrence Sperry Achievement Award, 1972; Society of Women Engineers: Outstanding Achievement Award, 1975; Boston Museum of Science: Washburn Award, 1987; ASME Applied Mechanics Award, 1996; National Academy of Engineering Distinguished Service Award, 1993; Barnard College Medal of Distinction, 1994; W. Stuart Symington Award – Air Force Association, 1995; Boston USO Military Service Award, 1995; Maxwell A. Kriendler Memorial Award – Air Force Association, 1995; Pathfinder Award, Museum of Flight, Seattle Wash., 1996; Durand Lectureship for Public Service – American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1996; Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame, 1996; New Englander of the Year – New England Council, 1996; Defense Distinguished Service Medal, 1997; Distinguished Service Medal, NRO, 1997; Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, Department of the Navy, 1997; Goddard Award, National Space Club, 1998; James V. Hartinger Award, NDIA, 1999; Reed Aeronautic Award, 2000; Spirit of St. Louis Medal, ASME, 2001; NASA Public Service Medal, 2005

Achievements: designed MIT's advanced wind tunnel facility; at MIT was appointed 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 served as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993; 1993-97 was US Sec'y of the Air Force; while Secretary of the Air Force handled the Kelly Flinn scandal; member of the board of investigation into the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; one of her most notable works is on the elliptical instability mechanism with Raymond Pierrehumbert; was Co-Chair of the 2018 NAS/NAE/NIM report on the Sexual Harassment of Women in Science and Technology; published research that analyzed vortices trailing from the wing tips of aircraft that was used to gauge the hazards of wake turbulence & is known as the Widnall instability; was the first director of the office of university research at MIT for the U.S. Department of Transportation; while Sec'y of the Air Force she began the program to develop the expendable launch vehicle used for Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets;