Born: 13 October 1890, Norway
Died: 13 January 1967
Country most active: Norway
Also known as: NA
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.
Dorenfeldt did occasional secretarial work for her father, and occasionally as substitute chief chemist at the Tofte Cellulose Factory, where her husband worked. In 1946, she was employed at the Ministry of Industry, as principal officer for the pulp and paper office, in the rebuilding phase of the country after World War II. Later she served as a board member of councils for funding related to the pulp and paper industry and the timber industry, as well as chair of one of them, and she became a board member for the Paper and Fibre Research Institute (PFI).
Holwech spent a short while doing chemical work but is mostly known for her lifetime work as an expressionist artist. (Artland) 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.
An exception was Liv Ranfrid Tessem (1900–1987) who graduated in 1928 and immediately got work at Ila and Lilleby Smelting Plants Limited, a local smelting plant owned by her metallurgy professor, Harald Pedersen (1888–1945), remaining there until 1953. Her initial work was to raw materials such as quartz and iron ore, and ferrosilicon.
Also, Turid Wik (1905–1987, graduated in 1929) and Anne Lene Thorsen (1910–?, graduated in 1936) who worked for their entire lives in the industry or research establishments, including in the USA and Argentina respectively.