Lillian Gilbreth was born on May 24th, 1878 in Oakland, California. She was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and an educator. Lillian was one of the first female engineers to earn a PhD., and is considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist. Originally, her father was opposed to allowing his daughters to seek higher education. This did not stop Lillian, she persuaded her father into allowing her to try out college for a year. She attended the University of California where she received a teaching certificate. Lillian did not have an easy time with gaining her teaching certificate,due to the university being underfunded, classes being large and held in tents, and women having to commute from home. The president of the university at that time, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, asked Lillian if she would be one of the student speakers at the commencement. She was the first woman to speak at the commencement. Lillian proceeded to enroll in graduate school, as opposed to just staying at home after graduation. She was accepted into Columbia University in New York City. She studied literature with George Edward Woodberry and psychology with Edward Thorndike. It was Edward Thorndike, that she continued to refer to in her later studies, because of the lasting influence he had on her. Lillian earned a master’s degree in literature from the University of California, a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, and a PhD in applied psychology from Brown University. She even was friends with President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover.
Career
In Lillian’s forty year career she combined psychology with the study of scientific management and engineering. She became a pioneer for industrial and organizational psychology. During her career, she helped industrial engineers recognize the effects and importance of the psychological aspects of work. As the first American engineer to create a synthesis of psychology and scientific management, she also introduced the concept to the Dartmouth College Conference on Scientific Management in 1911. Lillian also was jointly running Gilbreth, Inc with her husband. She also was an author and coauthor on several publications on various scientific papers. Lillian was actually less frequently credited to these publications due to publishers’ having concerns with a female author. One of the most famous studies that Lillian contributed to was the Time, Motion and Fatigue study. Lillian was apart of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers until her death. Gilbreth eventually shifted her efforts toward research projects related to female-friendly arena or domestic management and home economics, due to the discrimination of women in the engineering community. Lillian Gilbreth is the reason for modern kitchen layouts. Gilbreth is also credited for the inventions of the foot-pedal trash can, adding shelves to the inside of the refrigerator doors, and wall light switches. She even filed patents for her designs on improving the electric can opener and the wastewater hose for washing machines. During her employment at General Electric, with the help of over 4,000 women, she designed the proper heights for sinks, stoves and other kitchen fixtures. After World War I, Gilbreth worked with war-veteran amputees and rehabilitation. Some other companies she consulted with were Johnson & Johnson and Macy’s. At Macy’s she helped with some of the sales and human resource issues. At Johnson & Johnson, she did marketing research on sanitary napkins. Lillian was also instrumental to the design of a desk in cooperation with IBM for IBM’s display at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1933. In 1927, Lillian became a charter member of the Altrusa Club in New York City, which is an organization for Professional and Business Women. Due to the friendship that Lillian had with Lou Hoover, she joined Girl Scouts as a consultant in 1929 and remained with the organization for approximately twenty years and gaining a position as one of the board of members. She was appointed to the Organization on Unemployment Relief as the head of the “Share the Work” program during the Great Depression by President Hoover. Lillian was also the head of the women’s section of the President’s Emergency Committee for Employment and aided the gain of the cooperation of women’s group for reducing unemployment. Other organizations, Lillian was apart of were the War Manpower Commission, Office of War Information, U.S. Navy, Chemical Warfare Board, Harry Truman’s Civil Defense Advisory Council and the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
Legacy
Lillian is best known for her work as an industrial engineer and a pioneer in the field of management theory. She brought her training in psychology and the time-and-motion studies to several companies to help improve their management techniques, efficiency, and productivity. Lillian also had a large impact on women in S.T.E.M by being a pioneer in industrial engineering and management. Purdue awarded its first PhD. to a woman in 1950, due to the work that Lillian did with the University. There are several awards that have been named in her honor such as, Lillian M. Gilbreth Lectureships established by the National Academy of Engineering, the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Industrial Engineering Award, the Lillian M. Gilbreth Distinguished Professor Award at Purdue University, and the Lillian Moller Gilbreth Memorial Scholarship from the Society of Women Engineers.
Awards and Honors
- Twenty-Three honorary degrees form Rutgers University, Princeton University, Smith College, and the University of Michigan
- A portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery
- Gilbreth Engineering Library at Purdue University
- Second Honorary Member of the American Society of Industrial Engineers
- Member of British Women’s Engineering Society
- Second female member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
- Received the first Gilbreth Medal
- Honorary Member of the Purdue University Mortar Board
- Received the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal
- First Honorary member of the Society of Women Engineers
- Received the Wallace Clark Award
- Named the 1954 Alumna of the Year at the University of California
- First woman to be elected to the National Academy of Engineering
- First woman to receive the Hoover Medal
- Recipient of the Gold Medal award from the National Institute of Social Sciences
- Honored with a 40-cent Great Americans series postage stamp
- Inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1995
