Hertha Marks AyrtonDied 26 Aug 1923 at age 69 (born 28 Apr 1854). Phoebe Sarah Hertha Marks Ayrton was an English electrical engineer, inventor and mathematician (née Phoebe Sarah Marks) who during her education showed an aptitude for science and mathematics. She invented a sphygmograph (a device that charts pulse beats, but was not the first to do so), and a line divider (a drafting instrument to divide a line into any given number of equal parts). She began working with William Ayrton, whom she subsequently married (1885). Hertha took up her huband’s interest in electric arc experiments. Her design improvements made arc lights quieter and more reliable. She published a book on The Electric Arc (1902). As a woman she was denied a degree from Cambridge, and at first refused membership in the Royal Society (1902). She invented an anti-gas fan (flapper) used during WWI.«[EB gives date of death as 26 Aug 1923; some sources state 23 Aug.] |
