By Smithsonian Institution from United States (Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878-1972)) [No restrictions], via Wikimedia Commons

• INDUSTRIAL ENGINEER
• Specialized in ergonomics, time and motion studies, and essentially CREATED the field of organizational psychology
• FIRST: 
  • woman to speak at the University of California Berkeley's commencement
  • female member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • woman to win the Hoover Medal, which is given for distinguished public service by an engineer
• Worked with her husband to redesign commercial spaces, equating physical comfort with efficient workers
• She ensured that worker morale was also considered when designing workspace, emphasizing that stressed employees would get less accomplished
• Edited -- and likely cowrote -- many of her husband's books​
• After her husband died, she had to prove to their clients that she was capable of doing the work without him​​​
• Turned her attention to domestic spaces, applying industrial engineering principles to the home
  
• INVENTED the kitchen "work triangle" (refrigerator, sink, stove), AND the foot-pedal trash can​
• ​Also designed more efficient household layouts for people with disabilities, providing greater independence
• Taught in Purdue's School of Mechanical Engineering for 13 years
• Head of Newark School of Engineering's newly established Department of Personnel Relations
• Honorary member of the Society of Industrial Engineers
• Served on advisory boards to five U.S. presidents​
• Mother of twelve, she employed many of the same efficiency techniques to parenting and household living; the essence of the family's experiences were captured by two of the children in the semi-autobiographical book Cheaper By The Dozen, although the 1950s movie based on the book significantly minimized her career and intelligence

Bibliography: Camp, Carole Ann. American Women Inventors. Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2004. Print.
Lancaster, Jane. "Gilbreth, Lillian." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, 2008, 379-380.
Yount, Lisa. A to Z of Women in Science and Math​. New York: Facts on File, Inc., 1999. Print.

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