Born: 1905, Norway (assumed)
Died: 1997
Country most active: Norway
Also known as: Jørgine Stene
The following was written by Nina Baker and is excerpted from the book From Alchemy to Transport Phenomena: A Global History of Women in Chemical Engineering.
Lykknes’ recent survey (Lykknes, 2022) of the early women at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) reveals that Margot Dorenfeldt (Mrs Holtan) (1895–1986) and Randi Aletta Holwech (1890-1967) were the first two women chemical engineers to graduate from NTH (in 1919). From then until 1943 another 15 women followed in their footsteps: Karin de Lange, Nanna Isaachsen, Liv Ranfrid Tessem, Jørgine Stene, Turid Wik, Elisabeth Pedersen, Karen Backhe, Marthe Hermine Eckbo, Anne Lene Thoresen, Liv Urbye, Inger Ryssdal Graff, Astrid Gilstad, Anna Marcelie Johansen, Elsa Margrete Stensrød.
Most of the other women in the list worked only for a short period before ‘retiring’ on marriage, as exampled by Jørgine Stene Sørensen (1905–1997, graduated 1929) who worked from 1936 to 1938 as a chemical engineer at the Nidar Chocolate Factory in Trondheim, but then worked a her husband’s unpaid assistant at NTH.