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Sheila Widnall

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Sheila Widnall
18th United States Secretary of the Air Force
In office
August 6, 1993 – October 31, 1997
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byDonald Rice
Succeeded byF. Whitten Peters
Personal details
BornSheila Marie Evans
(1938-07-13) July 13, 1938 (age 87)
Tacoma, Washington, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
SpouseWilliam Widnall
Children2
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology (SB, SM, ScD)
Known forWidnall Instability
Engineering career
DisciplineAeronautical engineering
EmployerMIT
AwardsSociety of Women Engineers Achievement Award, National Women's Hall of Fame, Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame, National Academy of Engineering
[1][2][3]

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 elected to the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[4]

Early life and education

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Sheila Marie Evans[5] was born to Rolland and Genevieve Evans[6] and raised in Tacoma, Washington. She graduated from the Aquinas Academy for Girls in 1956. Encouraged to attend MIT by a local businessman, she graduated from MIT with a SB in 1960, SM in 1961, and ScD in 1964, all in Aeronautics and Astronautics.[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]

Career and research

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After earning her doctorate in 1964, Widnall was hired as the first female faculty member in the MIT School of Engineering, joining the faculty of the Aeronautics and Astronautics Department. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1970 and to Professor in 1974.[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 (the first woman to hold this position), and as MIT's Associate Provost from 1992–1993. In 1997, when she returned to MIT from her service as Secretary of the Air Force, she was named an Institute Professor.[10] In 2020, she became Professor Emerita after 64 years at MIT.[6]

Widnall's initial research in fluid mechanics was focused on the analysis of vortices trailing from the wings of aircraft. This helped determine the hazards of wake turbulence which was invisible. Her work led to increased safety at airports and improved airport capacity. The Widnall instability is named after her. Her other research included helicopter and aircraft noise, unsteady aerodynamics, wing theory, and turbulent flow.[10][11]

While at MIT, Widnall was very active in advocating for women students and faculty. She worked with the admissions office to change their procedures for evaluating potential undergraduate and graduate students, mentored students and faculty, influenced the rectification of gender pay inequities, and originated and taught a course for freshmen engineering students to help with retention of women and minority students.[10]

Widnall was a member of the board of investigation into the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.[6]

Widnall worked with MIT's Lean Aerospace Initiative (LAI) - which investigated the state of the aerospace industry in the United States.[citation needed]

Secretary of the Air Force

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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. 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.[13] She was the first woman to head a branch of the US military.[4] During her tenure, she handled the Kelly Flinn scandal.[14]

During her 4-year term, Widnall started the program to develop the expendable launch vehicle for the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets. She also defined the character of the Air Force, promoting the core values of the Air Force Academy: “Integrity first. Service before self. Excellence in all we do.”[10]

Awards and organizations

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Widnall was the first director of the Office of University Research for the US Department of Transportation 1974–1975. She received the Achievement Award from the Society of Women Engineers in 1975. She was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1985,[15] serving as vice-president from 1998 to 2005,[16] and winning their Arthur M. Bueche Award in 2009.[17] 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.[18] She served as trustee of the Carnegie Corporation including Vice Chair of the Board and Chair of the Nominating Committee.[10]

In 2000, Widnall was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[19]She also served on many committees and boards for the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, and the National Research Council. Widnall was very involved in service to professional societies including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She was president of AIAA 1999–2000 (the first female president). She was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2003. She was a Fellow in APS, AAAS and AIAA. Widnall received numerous honorary degrees.[10]

Her many other awards include[10]

  • 1972, Lawrence Sperry Achievement Award, AIAA
  • 1987, Washburn Award, Boston Museum of Science
  • 1993, Distinguished Service Award, National Academy of Engineering
  • 1996, ASME Applied Mechanics Award
  • 1996, Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame
  • 1997, Defense Distinguished Service Medal
  • 1998, Goddard Award, National Space Club
  • 2000, Reed Aeronautics Award
  • 2001, Spirt of St. Louis Medal, ASME
  • 2003, Inductee, National Women's Hall of Fame
  • 2005, Public Service Medal, NASA
  • 2019, David Guggenheim Medal (first woman)

Legacy

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A "trailblazer" who saw herself having two roles in the women’s movement, Widnall believed she needed to be very successful and visible at what she was doing so women had a role model, and men would believe that women could achieve. In addition, she wanted to make life better for women at MIT.[10]

Her firsts at MIT include: first undergraduate alumna appointed to the MIT faculty, first woman appointed to the MIT School of Engineering faculty, first woman to receive the Ford postdoctoral fellowship when appointed to the MIT faculty, and first woman elected Chair of the Faculty.[10]

Widnall’s work on vortex flow within the field of fluid mechanics resulted in the naming of the Widnall instability in her honor. In the 1970s, Widnall wrote a series of this phenomenon,[20] a low frequency instability.[10]

Her other pioneering firsts include first woman to serve as head of a branch of the U.S. military as Secretary of the Air Force, first woman to serve as President of the AIAA, and first woman to receive the Guggenheim Medal.[10]

Personal life

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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.[21] The couple has two grown children, William and Ann Marie.[22]

Writings

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References

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  1. ^ "Sheila E. Widnall." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1631006966. Fee. Accessed October 31, 2008. Updated: 12/12/1998.
  2. ^ "Sheila Widnall." Notable Women Scientists. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1668000457. Fee. Accessed October 31, 2008. Updated: 11/05/2000
  3. ^ "Sheila E. Widnall." Notable Scientists: From 1900 to the Present. Online. Gale Group, 2008. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC Document Number: K1619002898 Fee. Accessed October 31, 2008. Updated: 01/01/2001.
  4. ^ a b "Widnall, Sheila E." National Women’s Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c "Sheila M. Evans Will Be Married To W. S. Widnall; M. I. T. Senior Becomes Fisncee of Graduate Student There". New York Times. March 16, 1960. Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d Negroni, Christine (October 9, 2020). "Sheila Widnall: A Lifetime Exploring the Unknown at MIT and in the U.S. Air Force". Retrieved July 10, 2025.
  7. ^ "Nominations Before the Senate Armed Services Committee, First Session, 103d Congress: Hearings Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate". Vol. 103, no. 414. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1994. pp. 1094–1097. ISBN 978-0160436116.
  8. ^ Widnall, Sheila E. (1961). Boundary layer stability over flexible surfaces (M.S. thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  9. ^ Widnall, Sheila E. (1964). Unsteady loads on hydrofoils including free surface effects and cavitation (Sc.D. thesis). Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Aeronautical Engineering. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Johnson, Vicki (2025). "Chapter 30. Sheila Widnall". In Craig, Cecilia; Teig, Holly; Kimberling, Debra; Williams, Janet; Tietjen, Jill; Johnson, Vicki (eds.). Women Engineering Legends 1952–1976: Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award Recipients. Springer Cham. ISBN 9783032002235.
  11. ^ Pierrehumbert, Raymond; Widnall, Sheila (1982). "The Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Instabilities of a Spatially Periodic Shear Layer". Journal of Fluid Mechanics. 114: 59–82. doi:10.1017/s0022112082000044. S2CID 122846528.
  12. ^ Jehl, Douglas (July 4, 1993). "M.I.T. Professor Is First Woman Chosen as Secretary of Air Force". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2008.
  13. ^ Palmer, Betsy (2005-03-23). 9/11 Commission Recommendations: The Senate Confirmation Process for Presidential Nominees (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. Congressional Research Service. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  14. ^ Stout, David (May 24, 1997). "'Part of Me Has Died,' Pilot Says in Apology". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2008. Even as she asked in vain for an honorable discharge, First Lieut. Kelly J. Flinn said in a letter to the Secretary of the Air Force that having to leave the service was a punishment she would carry to her grave.
  15. ^ National Academy of Engineering. "The Honorable Sheila E. Widnall".
  16. ^ "National Academy of Engineering Presented Extraordinary Impact Awards". Aerospace America. 47 (10): B10. 2009.
  17. ^ "NAE announces award winners John Casani and Sheila Widnall". 1 October 2009.
  18. ^ "Sheila Evans Widnall". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  19. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved November 30, 2021.
  20. ^ Giaimo, Cara (April 25, 2018). "The Stabilizer: Institute Professor and aero-astro pioneer Sheila Widnall '60, SM '61, PhD '64, tackles sexual harassment in academia and some of the trickiest problems in rocket science". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved November 30, 2025.
  21. ^ Sheila Widnall introduces her husband William to give MIT lecture on Apollo (video)
  22. ^ Sheila E. Widnall Facts – biography

Further reading

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  • "Widnall of MIT Is New President-elect Of AAAS." Physics Today (February 1986), p. 69.
  • Biography, "Dr. Sheila E. Widnall." Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Public Affairs, November 1993.
  • Dr. Sheila E. Widnall, "<https://archive.today/20130221044842/http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio_print.asp?bioID=7582>", July 23, 1997.
  • Air Force Times, August 2, 1993, p. 4.
  • Sears, William R., "Sheila E. Widnall: President-Elect of AAAS," in Association Affairs, June 6, 1986, pp. 1119–1200.
  • Stone, Steve, "Air Force Secretary Salutes Female Aviators," in Norfolk Virginian-Pilot, October 10, 1993, p. B3.
  • "USAF Head Approved," in Aviation Week & Space Technology, August 9, 1993, p. 26.
  • Biography, Dr. Sheila E. Widnall, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Public Affairs, November 1993.
  • Ewing, Lee, Air Force Times, Panelists Laud Widnall, Approve Her Nomination, August 2, 1993, p. 4.
  • Stone, Steve, Aviation Week & Space Technology, USAF Head Approved, August 9, 1993, p. 26.
  • Stone, Steve, Physics Today, Widnall of MIT Is New President-elect Of AAAS, February 1986, p. 69.
  • Biography, Dr. Sheila E. Widnall, Office of the Secretary of the Air Force/Public Affairs, November 1993.
  • Nature Q&A with Sheila Widnall
  • Johnson, Vicki (2025). Chapter 30 "Sheila E. Widnall". In Craig, Cecilia; Teig, Holly; Kimberling, Debra; Williams, Janet; Tietjen, Jill; Johnson, Vicki (eds.). Women Engineering Legends 1952–1976: Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award Recipients. Springer Cham. ISBN9783032002235.
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