Yvonne Brill

Career

After graduating from the University of Manitoba, Yvonne began working on research regarding the performance characteristics of propellants at Douglas Aircraft in the United States. She mentions the shortage of technical graduates due to the United States conscription as a reason she was offered multiple positions despite her lack of an engineering degree. Her main interest was in engineering, but she started as a mathematician in the Research Department and later transferred to Douglas’ Aerodynamics Department. There were very few women with which Brill worked, she was believed to be the only female rocket scientist at the time. At this time, she also began pursuing further education, and through late night classes she erned a Master's Degree in Chemistry from the University of Southern California in 1951.

After, she began working on Project RAND where she became a Research Analyst in the Missiles Division and participated in studies regarding rocket propellant performance and further derived thermodynamic properties for rocket exhaust gas, which provided the world with its first industry standards.

Afterwards, she accepted a position at Marquardt Corporation before the beginning of her career at RCA Astro Electronics where she made her most notable innovation: Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster (EHT/Resistojet) for which she holds a US Patent (No. 3,807,657). She invented the Hydrazine Electro Thermal Thruster while working on the NOVA spacecraft which were used in the Apollo moon missions. The Electrothermal Hydrazine Thruster electrically heats hydrazine rocket fuel and reduces the amount of rocket fuel necessary to keep a satellite in successful orbit without straying off course due to external gravitational forces. Yvonne's invention improved overall satellite efficiency by thirty percent (30%) which allows spacecraft to carry significantly more equipment, which therefore helps satellites stay in orbit for longer periods of time, supplying mankind with more data than previously possible. Additionally, the simplicity of her design increased reliability as there were less parts at risk to malfunction. Because of this reason her invention resulted in a single propellant rather than multiple. Over time, this invention became an industry standard as well, and drastically increased revenue for owners of commercial communication satellites. Large aeronautics and aviation companies including, but not limited to, RCA, GE, Lockheed Martin, and Orbital Sciences have used the EHT in their communication satellites.

Brill also contributed to the propulsion systems of TIROS, the first weather satellite; Nova, a series of rocket designs that were used in American Moon missions; Explorer 32, the first upper-atmosphere satellite; and the Mars Observer, which in 1992 almost entered a Mars orbit before losing communication with Earth.

Later, Yvone Brill parted ways with the RCA and began working as a director of the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Program at NASA. However, two years after, in 1983, Yvonne returned to the RCA and remained there for three years in a position at the International Maritime Satellite Organization working as a space segment engineer in London, England. At this time, she also participated in many National Research Council Study committees as well as the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel from 1994 until 2001. At the same time she worked and consulted with many aerospace working groups from the Navy, Army, and Department of Defense, as well as consulting with foreign governments to improve their communication satellite presence in space.

After retiring in 1991, Yvonne devoted a significant amount of her time to professional organizations such as the AIAA (American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics) and SWE (Society of Women Engineers). She became an advocate for women in engineering and became a mentor for women at all career levels. After she was recognized with the SWE's achievement award in 1986, she devoted a majority of the remainder of her successful life to nominating other women for awards which could improve their professional careers and help recognize their scientific achievements.

Personal life

While completing her Master's degree, she met her husband, William Brill, a post doctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles. The two were married within a year, and they soon moved East for William’s job at FMC Corporation. The couple would move wherever work took him, and Yvonne later began working part-time and consulting jobs so that she could care for their two sons, Matthew and Joseph, and a daughter, Naomi.

At age 88, Yvonne Brill died of complications of breast cancer in Princeton, New Jersey.

An obituary of Brill published in the March 30, 2013, issue of the New York Times drew much news coverage not necessarily because of her remarkable accomplishments in the field of rocket science, but due to apparent sexism. It originally began: "She made a mean beef stroganoff, followed her husband from job to job and took eight years off from work to raise three children". Only several paragraphs later would you be able to find out that she was actually working part-time while raising her children, and then returning to full-time employment that lead to her fame for her research and innovations. The obituary was heavily criticized for leading with and overemphasizing Brill's gender and family life, rather than her remarkable scientific and career achievements and was cited as an example of an article that failed the Finkbeiner test. The Times later dropped the reference to her cooking and changed the lead of the article.