New Delhi: One of the world's first female engineers Elisa Leonida Zamfirescu was honoured by Google Doodle on her 131st birth anniversary on Saturday. Zamfirescu was a Romanian engineer, who carved herself a spot in a male-dominated field, led geology labs, and studied Romanian mineral resources.
Born on November 10, 1887, Zamfirescu was the first female member of the General Association of Romanian Engineers (AGIR) and ran laboratories for the Geological Institute of Romania. Her country honoured her by naming a street after her in the capital city of Bucharest in 1993. An award named after was created in 1997. The 'Premiul Elisa Leonida-Zamfirescu' honours female contributors to the fields of technology and science.
The Romanian engineer had to face gender-related discrimination before carving out her name in the field. Zamfirescu wanted to study at the School of Bridges and Roads in Bucharest after graduating high school but was rejected due to her gender.
Instead, she went to the Royal Technical University of Charlottenburg where she studied mechanical engineering, and later enrolled in 1909 and graduated in 1912, becoming one of the first female engineers to do so in Europe.
According to a report in The Independent, Zamfirescu kept working past retirement age and didn't fully retire until the age of 75 years old after a four-decade career. In addition to her work as a chemical engineer, Zamfirescu took a stance in favour of disarmament. She filed a complaint with the disarmament committee at London's Lancaster House, with a focus on nuclear threat.
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