Sheila Widnall

Sheila Marie Evans Widnall (born July 13, 1938) is an American aerospace researcher and Institute Professor Emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She served as the United States Secretary of the Air Force from 1993 to 1997, becoming the first woman to hold that post and the first woman to lead an entire branch of the United States Armed Forces in the Department of Defense. She was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 2003.^[4]

Sheila Widnall
18th United States Secretary of the Air Force
In office August 6, 1993 – October 31, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Donald Rice
Succeeded by	F. Whitten Peters
Personal details
Born	Sheila Marie Evans (1938-07-13) July 13, 1938 (age 87) Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	William Widnall
Children	2
Education	Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, SM, ScD)
[1][2][3]

Life and career

Sheila Marie Evans^[5] was born to Rolland and Genevieve Evans^[6]1 and raised in Tacoma, Washington, and graduated from the Aquinas Academy for Girls in 1956. She graduated from MIT with a SB in 1960, SM in 1961, and ScD in 1964, all in Aeronautics.^[7] Her master's thesis was entitled Boundary layer stability over flexible surfaces, and her doctoral thesis was entitled Unsteady loads on hydrofoils including free surface effects and cavitation, both under the supervision of Marten T. Landahl.^[8][9]

After earning her PhD in 1964, Widnall was became as the first female faculty member in the MIT School of Engineering.^[6] She was appointed the Abby Rockefeller Mauzé Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1986 and joined the Engineering Systems Division. She served as Chair of the Faculty from 1979–1981, and as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993. In 2020, she retired from the MIT faculty after 64 years.^[6]

In 1988, she was elected President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences that same year.^[10] In 2000, Widnall was elected to the American Philosophical Society.^[11]

On July 4, 1993, in the wake of the Tailhook scandal, President Bill Clinton announced Widnall's nomination to be Secretary of the Air Force.^[12] Prior to her nomination, she had served as chair of the Air Force Academy's Board of Visitors, as well as serving on several Air Force advisory boards.^[13] The Senate received her nomination on July 22, 1993, and confirmed her two weeks later on August 5, 1993, 183 days after inauguration and 197 after the office became vacant.^[14] She was the first woman to head a branch of the US military.^[4] During her tenure, she handled the Kelly Flinn scandal.^[15] She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985,^[16] serving as vice-president from 1998 to 2005,^[17] and winning their Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2009.^[18]

Widnall was a member of the board of investigation into the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

She currently works with the Lean Advancement Initiative.

She married William Soule Widnall in June 1960.^[5] Her husband, the son of former New Jersey congressman William B. Widnall ,^[5] earned a doctorate degree from MIT in aerospace engineering and headed the MIT-Draper team that developed the Apollo GN&C system.^[19] The couple has two grown children, William and Ann Marie.^[20]

Research

Widnall's research has been focused on fluid mechanics, particularly the aerodynamics of high-speed vehicles, helicopters, aircraft wakes, and turbulence. One of her most notable works is on the elliptical instability mechanism, in collaboration with Raymond Pierrehumbert.^[21]

Writings

• "Science and the Atari Generation." Science (August 12, 1983): 607.
• "AAAS Presidential Lecture: Voices from the Pipeline." Science (September 30, 1988): 1740-1745.