Born: Unknown (1920s), Australia (assumed)
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Australia
Also known as: Valeria Blagonravoff
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.
Possibly the first woman to graduate in chemical engineering in Australia may have been Valeria Blakey (née Blagonravoff) who gained her Bachelors in Applied Science (Industrial Chemistry), from The University of Queensland, in 1950. On graduation she had great difficulty in persuading anywhere that a woman could be an engineer but eventually was employed by the Bell Bay Aluminium Smelter project as Technical Assistant to its Chief Chemical Engineer. Later she had to leave to raise her family but later became a science teacher.