Sheila Marie Evans[5] was born to Rolland and Genevieve Evans[6] and raised in Tacoma,Washington. She graduated from the Aquinas Academy for Girls in 1956. Encouraged to attend MIT by a local businessman,she graduated from MIT with a SB in 1960,SM in 1961,and ScD in 1964,all in Aeronautics and Astronautics.[7] 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.[8][9]
Career and research
After earning her doctorate in 1964,Widnall was hired as the first female faculty member in the MIT School of Engineering,joining the faculty of the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1970 and to Professor in 1974.[6] She was appointed the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1986 and joined the Engineering Systems Division. She served as Chair of the Faculty from 1979–1981 (the first woman to hold this position),and as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993. In 1997,when she returned to MIT from her service as Secretary of the Air Force,she was named an Institute Professor.[10] In 2020,she became Professor Emerita after 64 years at MIT.[6]
Widnall's initial research in fluid mechanics was focused on the analysis of vortices trailing from the wings of aircraft. This helped determine the hazards of wake turbulence which was invisible. Her work led to increased safety at airports and improved airport capacity. The Widnall instability is named after her. Her other research included helicopter and aircraft noise,unsteady aerodynamics,wing theory,and turbulent flow.[10][11]
While at MIT,Widnall was very active in advocating for women students and faculty. She worked with the admissions office to change their procedures for evaluating potential undergraduate and graduate students,mentored students and faculty,influenced the rectification of gender pay inequities,and originated and taught a course for freshmen engineering students to help with retention of women and minority students.[10]
Widnall worked with MIT's Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI) - which investigated the state of the aerospace industry in the United States.[citation needed]
Secretary of the Air Force
On July 4,1993,in the wake of the Tailhook scandal,PresidentBill Clinton announced Widnall's nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force.[12] Prior to her nomination,she had served as chair of the Air Force Academy's Board of Visitors,as well as serving on several Air Force advisory boards. The Senate received her nomination on July 22,1993,and confirmed her two weeks later on August 5,1993,183 days after inauguration and 197 after the office became vacant.[13] She was the first woman to head a branch of the US military.[4] During her tenure,she handled the Kelly Flinn scandal.[14]
During her 4-year term,Widnall started the program to develop the expendable launch vehicle for the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets. She also defined the character of the Air Force,promoting the core values of the Air Force Academy:“Integrity first. Service before self. Excellence in all we do.”[10]
A "trailblazer" who saw herself having two roles in the women’s movement,Widnall believed she needed to be very successful and visible at what she was doing so women had a role model,and men would believe that women could achieve. In addition,she wanted to make life better for women at MIT.[10]
Her firsts at MIT include:first undergraduate alumna appointed to the MIT faculty,first woman appointed to the MIT School of Engineering faculty,first woman to receive the Ford postdoctoral fellowship when appointed to the MIT faculty,and first woman elected Chair of the Faculty.[10]
Widnall’s work on vortex flow within the field of fluid mechanics resulted in the naming of the Widnall instability in her honor. In the 1970s,Widnall wrote a series of this phenomenon,[20] a low frequency instability.[10]
Her other pioneering firsts include first woman to serve as head of a branch of the U.S. military as Secretary of the Air Force,first woman to serve as President of the AIAA,and first woman to receive the Guggenheim Medal.[10]
Personal life
She married William Soule Widnall in June 1960.[5] Her husband,the son of former New Jersey congressman William B. Widnall,[5] earned a doctorate degree from MIT in aerospace engineering and headed the MIT-Draper team that developed the Apollo GN&C system.[21] The couple has two grown children,William and Ann Marie.[22]
↑"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 October 31, 2008. Updated: 12/12/1998.
↑"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 October 31, 2008. Updated: 11/05/2000
↑"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 October 31, 2008. Updated: 01/01/2001.
↑"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. ISBN978-0160436116.
↑Widnall, Sheila E. (1961). Boundary layer stability over flexible surfaces (M.S. thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
1234567891011Johnson, Vicki (2025). "Chapter 30. Sheila Widnall". In Craig, Cecilia; Teig, Holly; Kimberling, Debra; Williams, Janet; Tietjen, Jill; Johnson, Vicki (eds.). Women Engineering Legends 1952–1976: Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award Recipients. Springer Cham. ISBN9783032002235.
↑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. S2CID122846528.
↑Stout, David (May 24, 1997). "'Part of Me Has Died,' Pilot Says in Apology". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2008. 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.
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