Janet Zaph Briggs (February 7, 1912 – January 25, 1974) was an American metallurgist, the first woman to earn a mining engineering degree from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, and an expert on

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lea ...

. She was inducted into the

National Mining Hall of Fame The National Mining Hall of Fame is a museum located in Leadville, Colorado, United States, dedicated to commemorating the work of miners and people who work with natural resources. The museum also participates in efforts to inform the public ab ...

in 1989.

Early life

Janet Zaph Briggs was born in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana () is the second most populous city and the county seat of Orange County, California. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census, making Santa Ana the List of ...

, the daughter of George S. Briggs and Eva Potts Briggs. She attended Stanford University, where she was vice president of the aviation club, and learned to fly while earning degrees in mining engineering in 1931 and 1933. Her master's thesis at Stanford was titled "A Short Study of the Making, Working, and Properties of Ancient Iron." She completed doctoral studies at the University of Leoben in Austria."Dr. Janet Briggs"
''New York Times'' (January 29, 1974): 36. In 1933 Stanford University published her work titled ''The Microcharacter as a Metallurgical Instrument ..''.

Career

As a metallurgist, she worked first for

Crucible Steel Company A crucible is a ceramic or metal container in which metals or other substances may be melted or subjected to very high temperatures. While crucibles were historically usually made from clay, they can be made from any material that withstands te ...

, beginning in 1936, and later for Climax Molybdenum Company, rising to the rank of vice president for technical information in 1970. She coauthored ''Molybdenum: Steels, Irons, Alloys'' in 1948, and ''Mo: Less Common Alloys of Molybdenum'' in 1962. She received a patent in 1945 for a process of making hardened steel. As an amateur aviator, Janet Zaph Briggs earned her private pilot's license in 1930, and was one of the nine charter members of the Bay Cities chapter of the

Ninety-Nines The Ninety-Nines: International Organization of Women Pilots, also known as The 99s, is an international organization that provides networking, mentoring, and flight scholarship opportunities to recreational and professional female pilots. Foun ...

Personal life and legacy

Janet Zaph Briggs lived in New York City, but died while on business in Tokyo in 1974, age 61. Her gravesite is next to those of her parents, in Santa Ana, California. Climax Molybdenum published a biography of Briggs soon after her death. In 1989, Janet Briggs was inducted into the National Mining Hall of Fame in

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

. She was also posthumously awarded a "Fourth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure" by the Emperor of Japan for her contributions to the Japanese steel industry."Dr. Janet Zaph Briggs"
National Mining Hall of Fame, 1989 inductee.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Janet Zaph 1912 births 1974 deaths American metallurgists People from Santa Ana, California 20th-century American scientists 20th-century American women scientists Scientists from California Stanford University alumni University of Leoben alumni