Born: 30 December 1924, Canada
Died: 27 March 2013
Country most active: United States
Also known as: Yvonne Madalaine Claeys
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women creator Allison Tyra’s book Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed, and Stolen Work.
Rocket scientist Yvonne Brill was the first person in her family to go to college and graduated at the top of her class at the University of Manitoba with a bachelor’s degree in both chemistry and mathematics in 1945. She had originally applied to their engineering program but was denied by the school because they claimed that the program’s mandatory summer camp did not have the necessary facilities to host female students. She went on to do brilliant work in rocket propulsion and invent the electrothermal hydrazine thruster (used in controlling satellites), improving both engine performance and propulsion reliability.