Born: 7 July 1917, Guatemala
Died: 8 May 2017
Country most active: Colombia
Also known as: Rebeca Echevarría
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.
Colombia’s first female chemical engineer, Rebeca Uribe Bone (nee Echevarría) (1917-2017) graduated in Chemical Engineering from the Pontifical-Bolivarian University of Medellin in 1945. Her sisters became a civil engineer, architect and doctor, reflecting the family’s freethinking attitudes. Within a year of starting her first job, in the Bavaria Brewing Company’s quality department, she married the son of a family friend, with whom she set up a factory and had a son. In the culture of the time, with women being expected to ‘retire’ on starting a family, she no longer followed her hard-won field.