Yvonne Brill

Yvonne Brill during the ceremony of presenting her National Medal of Technology by Barack Obama in 2011

Yvonne Brill (1924-2013) - Canadian and American chemist, astrophysicist and engineer, inventor of a hydrotherapy electrothermal engine used in rocket technology, among others as a satellite maneuvering engine.

At the age of 20, she joined Manitoba University, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in mathematics and chemistry. Shortly thereafter, she moved to Los Angeles, where she was employed at the Douglas Aircraft Company as a mathematician in the construction of the first American artificial satellite, she was the only woman working in the rocket industry in the United States. At the same time, she studied for a master's in the department of chemistry at the University of Southern California. After passing the exams for some time she worked as a chemical engineer in Southern California, then moved to the East Coast.

In the work of an engineer she dealt with issues of turbojet engine performance and chemical conditioning of their work. In her free time she also studied issues of maneuvering the satellite after placing it in orbit. The fruit of her private project is a hydrazine-driven electrothermal engine, so-called Resistojet. Then she worked, among others when designing Nova rockets created under the Apollo Program. She was also a member of teams working on the first American meteorological satellite, the first satellite placed in the stratosphere, the engine driving space shuttle and the Mars Observer probe.

For her achievements in the field of aerospace engineering she was awarded, among others, the Resnik Challenger Medal and the Wylde Propulsion Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He received the National Medal of Technology in 2011 from the hands of President Barack Obama.

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