Mary G. Ross
| Mary Golda Ross | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 9, 1908 Park Hill, Oklahoma |
| Died | April 29, 2008 (aged 99) Los Altos, California |
| Nationality | Cherokee |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | Northeastern State Teachers' College, bachelor's degree in mathematics, 1928 |
| Parent(s) | Great grandfather, John Ross |
| Engineering career | |
| Employer(s) | Lockheed Martin, 1942; joined their Advanced Development Program (Skunk Works), 1952. |
| Projects | First Native American female engineer. |
| Significant design | "Preliminary design concepts for interplanetary space travel, manned and unmanned earth-orbiting flights, the earliest studies of orbiting satellites for both defense and civilian purposes." |
| Awards | Silicon Valley Engineering Council’s Hall of Fame, 1992, Fellow and life member of the Society of Women Engineers, and others |
Mary Golda Ross (August 9, 1908 – April 29, 2008) was the first Native American female engineer. She was one of the 40 founding engineers of the Skunk Works, and was known for her work at Lockheed Martin on "preliminary design concepts for interplanetary space travel, manned and unmanned earth-orbiting flights, the earliest studies of orbiting satellites for both defense and civilian purposes."
Mary G. Ross was born in the small town of Park Hill, Oklahoma. She was the great-granddaughter of the Cherokee Chief John Ross. "A gifted child, she was sent to live with her grandparents in the Cherokee Nation capital of Tahlequah to attend school."
When she was 16, Ross enrolled in Northeastern State Teachers' College in Tahlequah. She earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics in 1928, at age 20.
She received her master's degree from the Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley in 1938, taking "every astronomy class they had."
Ross taught math and science in rural Oklahoma schools for nine years, mostly during the Great Depression.
After receiving her master's degree, she went to work for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in Washington, D.C., as a statistical clerk. In 1937, she was reassigned as an advisor to girls at the Santa Fe Indian School, an American Indian boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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