Although there’s often a division painted between science and art, many SWE members have found a symbiosis in which their art has served engineering, and engineering has served their art. Jeanne Brodie’s spatial awareness and degree in sculpture helped her to pivot to engineering during the Second World War, designing molds at Ohio Rubber. “My boss used to say I had more vision than most of the men,” she laughed during her 2019 SWE oral history interview, “because I could see ‘around’ things.”
Beyond their offices, early members used their art in service of the Society, raising their drafting pencils to sketch eye-catching illustrations for membership brochures, development campaigns, articles, and at least one SWE award. It is perhaps fitting that the Resnik Challenger Medal, awarded for visionary contributions to space exploration, was designed and sculpted by Past President Arminta Harness, F.SWE, whose own vision shifted from aerospace to terra cotta in her retirement.
– Troy Eller English, SWE Archivist
