Helena Amélia Oehler Stemmer (11 November 1927 – 28 March 2016) was a Brazilian

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and university professor.

Early life and education

Helena Amélia Oehler was born in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, , Brazilian ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of 1,488,252 inhabitants (2020) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, twelfth most populous city in the country ...

on 11 November 1927 to Marcella Elisa Pierina Sanguin and Rodolpho Carlos Oehler. She graduated in civil engineering at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in 1954.

Career

On 15 May 1955, Helena Amélia Oehler married her university colleague

Caspar Erich Stemmer Caspar is a masculine given name. It may refer to: People * Caspar (magus), a name traditionally given to one of the Three Magi in the Bible who brought the baby Jesus gifts *Caspar Austa (born 1982), Estonian cyclist *Caspar Badrutt (1848–1904) ...

and soon got a job at the company Azevedo Bastian Castilhos S / A Construções. When her husband Caspar, then dean of

Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina The Federal University of Santa Catarina ( pt, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, UFSC) is a public university in Florianópolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. Considered one of the leading universities in Brazil, ...

(UFSC) made a study exchange trip to the Technical University of North Rhine-Westphalia in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

(RWTH Aachen) in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Helena Stemmer attended

structural analysis Structural analysis is a branch of Solid Mechanics which uses simplified models for solids like bars, beams and shells for engineering decision making. Its main objective is to determine the effect of loads on the physical structures and thei ...

classes in German at the university. Stemmer started teaching at UFSC in 1969, a year after the foundation of the civil engineering course, becoming the first teacher in the discipline of construction stability at the university. She was coordinator of the civil engineering course, head of department and director of the Technological Center (CTC). She was the only woman to head an engineering department at CTC in almost 50 years. She dedicated herself to teaching for almost three decades until her retirement in June 1992, and co-authored the book Memórias da Engenharia Civil.

Personal life

In her youth, she practiced athletics at the Porto Alegre Gymnastics Society. Later in life, she was known for her interest and knowledge of opera, and sang as a soprano. She was celebrated for her good memory, enthusiasm for reading and broad cultural interests. On 15 May 1955, Helena Amélia Oehler Stemmer married her university colleague

. They had three children, Gaspar, Marcelo and Miriam.

Death and burial

Helena Amélia Oehler Stemmer died around noon on Monday, 28 March 2016. She was buried in the Jardim da Paz Cemetery in

Florianópolis Florianópolis () is the capital and second largest city of the state of Santa Catarina, in the South region of Brazil. The city encompasses Santa Catarina Island and surrounding small islands, as well as part of the mainland. It has a populat ...

alongside her husband.

References

External links

Fotografia de Helena e seu marido Caspar
Brazilian civil engineers 2016 deaths 1927 births People from Porto Alegre Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul alumni Brazilian women engineers {{Brazil-engineer-stub