  | The brilliant calculator : how mathematician Edith Clarke helped electrify America Author: Lower, Jan | |
| Price: $23.78 | ||
Summary:
Long before calculators were invented, little Edith Clarke devoured numbers, conquered calculations, cracked puzzles, and breezed through brainteasers. Edith wanted to be an engineer. When she grew up, no one would hire a woman engineer. But that didn't stop Edith from following her passion and putting her lightning-quick mind to the problem of electricity.
| Illustrator: | Reagan, Susan |
Reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (01/01/23)
Booklist (01/01/23)
Full Text Reviews:
Booklist - 01/01/2023 Growing up in the late 1800s, Edith Clarke was fascinated by mathematical problems and brainteasers. She dreamed of becoming a civil engineer, but “no one wanted a woman engineer.” After teaching high-school- and college-level science and math, she accepted a job as a “human calculator” for engineers working to extend telephone technology across America, and later earned an electrical engineering degree at MIT. Unable to find an engineering job, she supervised a team of human calculators at General Electric. While working there, she invented and patented the Clarke Calculator, which allowed engineers to quickly and accurately solve certain calculations involving the transmission of electricity. The following year, she became America’s first woman electrical engineer. Though relatively short, the text tells Clarke’s story in terms that are accessible to children and offers more information in the extensive back matter. The attractive illustrations, drawn digitally and brightened with watercolors, do a particularly good job of portraying Clarke as she gradually grows from childhood to maturity. An intriguing introduction to a trailblazing woman in the field of electrical engineering. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.
