Muriel Glauert (née Barker) (7 May 1892 – 23 December 1949) was a British mathematician who made significant contributions to early advances in

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

Early life and education

Muriel Barker was born in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, the daughter of a textile manufacturer, and attended

Nottingham Girls' High School Nottingham Girls' High School is an independent selective day school for girls aged 4–18, situated just north of Nottingham city centre. The school was founded in 1875 and forms part of the Girls' Day School Trust. History Nottingham Girls' ...

, where she won prizes for her achievements in German, maths and chemistry. She attended

Newnham College Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicent ...

, Cambridge, from 1912 to 1915 and completed the

mathematical tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was a ...

, although this was awarded by

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

, as Cambridge was yet to award degrees to women.

Career at the Royal Aircraft Establishment

Barker taught in Liverpool before joining the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

(RAE) in

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

in 1918 as a researcher. Her first publication in her early career at Farnborough was on theoretical streamlines for the flow over an

aerofoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...

. In 1919 she went to study at Bryn Mawr for a year and then undertook postgraduate studies in

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

at Cambridge. In August 1922 she published her paper 'On the use of very small pitot-tubes for measuring wind velocity' in the ''Proceedings of the Royal Society''. A

pitot tube A pitot ( ) tube (pitot probe) measures fluid flow velocity. It was invented by a French engineer, Henri Pitot, in the early 18th century, and was modified to its modern form in the mid-19th century by a French scientist, Henry Darcy. It is ...

is a slender tube with two holes used to calculate speed through the air or water, used by both ships and aeroplanes. Barker was the first researcher to demonstrate that the difference between the pitot tube's reading and the static pressure is proportional to the flow speed rather than to its square. In the same year she returned to the RAE, and became engaged to, and later married, the

aerodynamicist Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

Hermann Glauert Hermann Glauert, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (4 October 1892 – 6 August 1934) was a British aerodynamicist and Principal Scientific Officer of the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, Hampshire, Farnborough until his death in 1934 in ...

, Principal Scientific Officer at the RAE.

Later career

After her husband was killed in an accident in 1934, Barker later became Examiner in Mathematics for the London and Cambridge and Joint Northern Universities. In 1940 she published a final academic paper, which looked at the capture of raindrops by a cylinder and an aerofoil moving at uniform speed, a problem of ongoing concern due to ice formation, for example, on aeroplane wings in flight.

Personal life

She was married to

, who died in 1934. They had three children: Michael, and twins Audrey and Richard. Muriel Glauert died in 1949 and was buried alongside her husband.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Glauert, Muriel 1892 births 1949 deaths British women engineers People educated at Nottingham Girls' High School Scientists from Nottingham Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Bryn Mawr College alumni 20th-century women engineers 20th-century English mathematicians 20th-century British engineers