Science Service Gibson, Jane Blankenship Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Oak Ridge National Laboratory University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Description

The caption accompanying this 1961 image reads: "Mrs. Carl Gibson who as Jane Blankenship won high science honors in school, combines her scientific work with advanced studies and homemaking." As a student at Oak Ridge High School, Blankenship won a number of honors. While completing a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Tennessee, she worked during the summers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where her father was a physical chemist. By 1961, she had married a chemical engineer, moved to California, and was working as a spectroscopist for Lockheed Aircraft. Her photograph was used to illustrate a news story about "sex desegregation" in science and the importance of encouraging more women to become scientists if the United States was to compete effectively in the Cold War.Smithsonian Institution Archives, Accession 90-105, Science Service Records, Image No. SIA2007-0272Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520

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Smithsonian Institution Archives

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Smithsonian Institution