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Nina Baker

@ninabake2.bsky.social

2.5K followers 700 following 4.8K posts

Independent engineering historian: women in engineering, motoring, aviation, construction. Writing book on women's motoring clubs worldwide. Ex-MN. Ex-Deacon Hammermen of Glasgow. OBE. No profile? I won't follow you https://womenengineerssite.wordpress.com

womenengineerssite.wordpress.com

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · Nov 14

I am writing a book about the history of the clubs that women motorists have set up for themselves worldwide from the 1890s to the present day.
If you or your mum etc were ever in such a group anywhere in the world I would love to hear from you.
Here are some of the badges of UK clubs:

Women's Automobile & Sports Association badge

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Reposted by Nina Baker

Ceryl @politicdormouse.bsky.social · 2h

Katharine Burr Blodgett US physicist chemist. 1926 1st woman #physics PhD @ Cambridge. Invented nonreflective "invisible" glass for lenses used filming Gone with the Wind 1939. Later used for submarine periscopes & plane spy cameras in #WWII. d. #OTD 12 Oct 1979 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathari...

Katharine Burr Blodgett using a machine to make lenses. B&W photo #WomenInSTEM

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1h

@gavia.bsky.social

Phoef Sutton @phoefsutton.bsky.social · 16h

SUPPORTING ACTOR SUNDAY
#supportingactorsunday
MARIE WINDSOR (1919-2000)
Often called “the Queen of the Bs,” Windsor was a striking and sharp-witted actress. Known for roles in THE NARROW MARGIN and THE KILLING, she excelled at playing tough, complex women who could outsmart any man in the room.🎥

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1h

That is very kind, many thanks. I use Ancestry for most of my sleuthing of women engineers of the past, plus BNA. If really stuck I have been known to contact local history groups, who are usually keen to help if they can!

Reposted by Nina Baker

Ceryl @politicdormouse.bsky.social · 13h

Stella “Jaye” "Pete" Edwards, last of UK women #WWII Air Transport Auxiliary pilots. Early 1943 saw advert for women pilots to join #ATA, flew 20 types of aircraft, with very little training & always solo, most enjoyed flying Hawker Hurricanes. b. #OTD 12 Oct 1918 bit.ly/3e1pKM7

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 12h

More info in chat.

Reposted by Nina Baker

Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 15h

Community Whistle flyer from Rogers Park area in Chicago.

@prisonculture.bsky.social says, "This is something EVERYONE can do. Everyone."

Why It Works
✪ Instant Alert System

✪ Faster Than Social Media

✪ Turns Silence Into Community Action

Analog device that's "Faster Than Social Media"? Lolol.

Informational flyer about Rogers Park Whistle Protocols, explaining how to use whistles to alert neighbors of emergencies, with color-coded alerts, steps for use, and encouragement to form a crowd and stay loud for safety.

Graphic:
FORM A CROWD
STAY LOUD
PROTECT EACH OTHER

[I will share some pieces of this in a separate post]

ROGERS PARK
WHISTLE PROTOCOLS

WHY A WHISTLE? ON THE STREETS

• A SIMPLE TOOL
FOR FAST ALERTS.
• LOUD. •
RECOGNIZABLE.
IMPOSSIBLE TO
IGNORE. •
• OUR VOICES ARE
STRONGER TOGETHER.

WHISTLES GUIDE
PEOPLE TO:
• FOLLOW ICE CARAVANS
• CATCH UP WITH THE
CROWD
• ALERT NEIGHBORS
TO JOIN IN
NOISE = VISIBILITY.

WHY IT WORKS
• INSTANT ALERT
SYSTEM

• FASTER THAN
SOCIAL MEDIA

• TURNS SILENCE
INTO COMMUNITY
ACTION

WHAT YOU CAN DO
• WEAR YOUR WHISTLE
AROUND YOUR NECK
• TEACH FAMILY &
NEIGHBORS THE
CODES
• USE IT WHEN ICE IS
SPOTTED
• PROTECT EACH
OTHER, ALWAYS

TOGETHER, WE
KEEP OUR
COMMUNITY
SAFE.
FORM A CROWD,
STAY LOUD.
THIS FLYER DISTRIBUTED BY:
PROTECT RP
@PROTECTRP_

ORIGINAL FLYER CREATED BY:
@ @PILSENARTSCOMMUNITYHOUSE
INFO@PILSENARTSCOMMUNITYHOUSE.ORG

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 15h

Thanks for the 📢
I have, as is my habit, made a tree for her on Ancestry and reached out to the owners of trees in which she appears. Very occasionally this has results but mostly it turns out I know more than they do.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 15h

Thanks! I was hoping you might do that for me!

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 16h

She was a mathematician and worked on slender delta wings, rising to SPSO by 1956.
A couple of examples of her early work.
3/3

1948 The Flat Delta Wing At Incidence, At Supersonic Speeds, When The Leading Edges Lie Outside The Mach Cone Of The Vertex, Gwendolen M. Roper, The Quarterly Journal of Mechanics and Applied Mathematics, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1948, Pages 327–343, https://doi.org/10.1093/qjmam/1.1.327

949 The pressure distribution, at supersonic speeds and zero lift, on some swept-back wings having symmetrical sections with rounded leading edges. G. M. Roper. https://reports.aerade.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826.2/3246

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 16h

Most amazing to me, it mentioned an RAE woman of whom I had previously been unaware - Gwendoline Marjorie Roper. The dates when she would have been at the RAE were 1941-61, so I suppose it is too much to hope that anyone who is still alive and worked there recalls her name? 2/3

Paragraph that mentions her work at RAE Farnborough

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 16h

🧵Dr Gwendoline Marjorie Roper (1901-72)
Truly, there is always more to know. Yesterday I bought this newspaper at a boot fair for a quid, not even realising it had half a page about women in aviation until I was reading it on train home. 1/3

@politicdormouse.bsky.social @stockotrader.bsky.social

Front page of The Times Survey of British Aviation Sept 1956

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 17h

That is quite the side-eye!

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 20h

Ironing.
Sewing on buttons.
Winterising the garden.

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 20h

@grace-knight.co.uk

Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 23h

This is such a clever idea on taking kids to museums/galleries
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

Nadia from London has an idea that sounds such fun you'll be booking a day out asap.
"I've always loved museums," she says,
"but they can be overwhelming for children. For decades now, I've done something called 'playing postcards'
We do
the museum backwards, visiting the gift shop first. Each child gets to choose three postcards. Then they take it in turns to find that particular artwork in the museum and give us a little information about the piece from the details on the postcard, or from any gallery plaque. At the end of this treasure-hunt-style activity, we vote for our favourite in the cafe."

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 22h

Fascinating. I know that the programmes of the local branches of the Electrical Association for Women & the Women's Gas Federation always had industrial visits, which seem to have been very popular. Often following an evening branch talk by woman rep from the company, about their products.

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 22h

@graemegooday.bsky.social - this seems interesting, not least sinc the EAW, amongst many other women's organisations, did a lot of factory visiting.

Richard Hornsey @hornseyhq.bsky.social · 1d

Just out: Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production: academic.oup.com/tcbh/article...

Factory tourism in inter-war Britain: the spectacular construction of social-democratic mass production

Abstract. In the 1920s and 1930s, British mass-manufacturers opened their factories to hundreds of thousands of ordinary consumers. As the market for brand

academic.oup.com

Reposted by Nina Baker

Ceryl @politicdormouse.bsky.social · 23h

Miriam Violet Griffith, UK electrical engineer, technical author, early expert on ground source heat pumps. Educated @ Cheltenham Ladies College. Physics degree Bedford College Elected Fellow @ Institute of Physics @physicsnews.bsky.social b4 1949 b. #OTD 11 Oct 1911 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_...

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 23h

For the whole story of Lalitha's life, see @shlead.bsky.social's excellent book: shanthamohan.com/roots-and-wi...

Roots and Wings-Second Edition

I am thrilled to announce the release of the second edition of my book, “Roots and Wings: Inspiring Stories of Indian Women in Engineering” on Amazon. The audience for this edition is m…

shanthamohan.com

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1d

Women and their children - tattie howking was the Scottish equivalent of the hop picking work/'holidays' done by families in England.

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Reposted by Nina Baker

Ceryl @politicdormouse.bsky.social · 1d

Hattie T. Scott Peterson. In 1946 1st African-American woman to earn bachelor's degree in civil engineering. 1947 Survey & cartographic #engineer for US Geological Survey. 1954 1st woman engineer to join local US Army Corps of Engineers. #WomenInSTEM b. #OTD 11 Oct 1913 bit.ly/3hKbQLJ

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Reposted by Nina Baker

Ceryl @politicdormouse.bsky.social · 1d

Olwen Wooster telecomms engineer. #WWII cypher officer in Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force. 1954 ground comms 4 TransAustralia Airlines. 1964 ran computing systems connecting 300 gambling shops w' racecourses. Member of Society Women Engineers & Soroptimists. d. #OTD 11 Oct 1981 bit.ly/31IRG1H

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1d

Not a concert as such but my daughter & I went to the cinema to see Mama Mia, at which a fight broke out. The police were eventually called & carried the fighters out literally kicking and screaming (f'ing & blinding).

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Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1d

In which a Blue Peter 'make' demonstrates that sometimes double sided sticky tape, some corrugated cardboard and a toilet roll tube are no match for concrete.

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1d

The orangehorror is peaved he didnt get That Prize?

Nina Baker @ninabake2.bsky.social · 1d

Unsolicited pig pic