NASA History Office Talks

NASA HISTORY TALK: “The Legacy of Pearl Young” by Dr. Caitlin Milera

Time/Date/Location: Wednesday, 17 April, at 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET,  virtual via Ustream (no prior registration necessary)

Contact: Steve Garber, stephen.j.garber@nasa.gov

About: Join us live from NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, where keynote speaker Dr. Caitlin Milera, director of the North Dakota Space Grant Consortium and North Dakota NASA Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, will present “The Legacy of Pearl Young.” Dr. Milera’s doctoral degree dissertation explored Young’s resiliency as she faced the academic and professional barriers as a woman in STEM.

There will be a live Q&A session to follow. Questions can be submitted via the Conference i/o tool link that will be provided during the event’s broadcast.

Pearl Young is considered the first professional woman to work for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). She graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1919 with majors in physics, mathematics, and chemistry, and in 1922 started working at what was then called the NACA’s Langley Field. After spending a few years working in the instrumentation division, she suggested that Langley required someone to oversee the technical reports system and was given the job. She led the effort until World War II, and in 1943 published the “Style Manual for Engineering Authors,” which became the go-to reference guide for the publishing of NACA reports at Langley and other centers, ensuring that all technical publications were consistently accurate, thorough, and well organized.

This NASA History Talk is presented in partnership with NASA Langley’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Day.