Theresa M. Korn
First woman engineering graduate of Carnegie Mellon; ham radio operator and pilot.
Theresa Marie Korn was born Theresa McLaughlin on November 5, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a civil engineer. When she was a year old, a storm damaged the family home and broke her nose, prompting a move to Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where she grew up. In high school, she became a ham radio operator in 1941 and flew Atlantic reconnaissance patrols for the Civil Air Patrol, making her the youngest pilot and radio operator in the country. She joined the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots, and graduated as valedictorian of Greensburg High School in 1943, winning the Bausch and Lomb Science Award and a Carnegie Scholarship to the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).
At the time, the Carnegie Institute admitted women only through its Margaret Morrison Carnegie College, not its engineering school. McLaughlin’s scholarship was tied to that women’s college, which would have allowed her to take engineering classes but not earn an engineering degree. She refused the scholarship and instead used money from her pilot friends to pay tuition, gaining admission directly to the engineering school as its first female student. While studying, she earned a radio license and worked at local station WHGB, but quit after discovering she was paid less than male employees. She then took a job working on the electrical systems of arcade games. Despite resistance from some male faculty, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1947. She was nominated for membership in Eta Kappa Nu, the IEEE honor society, but was refused because she was a woman; instead, she received a certificate as the best student in her class.
After graduation, she became a junior engineer at Curtiss-Wright, working in the restricted research section on missile development. In 1948, she married Granino Arthur Korn, a German-born physicist and the son of physicist Arthur Korn. Granino was head of analysis at Curtiss-Wright, and the company’s anti-nepotism rules forced her to leave her job. A few years later, the Korns moved to Seattle, where she returned to work at Boeing on airplane engineering. In 1952, they co-founded an engineering consulting company. Theresa earned a master’s degree from UCLA in 1954.
Quick Facts
- Birth Name
- Theresa Marie McLaughlin
- Birth Date
- 1926-11-05
- Birth Place
- St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
- Death Date
- 2020-04-05
- Death Place
- Wenatchee, Washington, U.S.
- Education
- Carnegie Institute of Technology / University of California, Los Angeles (Master's)
- Employer
- Curtiss-Wright, / Boeing
- Known For
- Author, engineer, radio enthusiast, and airplane pilot
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Theresa McLaughlin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of a civil engineer. When she was one year old, a storm damaged her family home, breaking her nose, and the family moved to Greensburg, Pennsylvania. As a high school student, she became a ham radio operator in 1941 and flew Atlantic reconnaissance patrols for the Civil Air Patrol, becoming the youngest pilot and radio operator in the country. She graduated as valedictorian of Greensburg High School in 1943, winning the Bausch and Lomb Science Award and a Carnegie Scholarship to the Carnegie Institute of Technology. Because the institute's engineering school had not admitted women, her scholarship was to the Margaret Morrison Carnegie College for women, which would have barred her from earning an engineering degree. By refusing the scholarship and accepting money from pilot friends, she gained admission to the engineering school, becoming its first female student. While studying, she earned a radio license and worked for WHGB, a local radio station, but quit over unequal pay. She then worked on electrical systems of arcade games. Despite opposition from some male faculty, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1947. The IEEE honor society Eta Kappa Nu refused her nomination because she was a woman, instead giving her a certificate as the best student in her class.
Reader's Guide
Korn's career illustrates the barriers faced by women in mid-20th-century engineering and radio. After graduating, she became a junior engineer at Curtiss-Wright in the restricted research section on missile development. In 1948 she married Granino Arthur Korn, a German-born physicist and head of analysis at Curtiss-Wright; anti-nepotism rules caused her to lose her position. They later moved to Boeing in Seattle, where she returned to work on airplane engineering. The Korns co-founded an engineering consulting company in 1952. She earned a master's degree in 1954 from UCLA. In 1957, her husband became a professor at the University of Arizona, while she managed the consulting business and became active in Tucson society. After Granino retired in 1983, they moved to Wenatchee, Washington. She died from COVID-19 on April 9, 2020. Her books, co-authored with her husband, include *Electronic Analog Computers* (1952) and the widely used *Mathematical Handbook for Scientists and Engineers* (1961), which was translated into Russian and Polish. Her inclusion as a fictionalized character in *Kay Everett Calls CQ* reflects her status as a pioneering ham radio operator and pilot.
Did You Know?
- She became a ham radio operator in 1941 while still a high school student.
- She was the first woman to earn an engineering degree from what is now Carnegie Mellon University.
- A fictionalized version of her appears in the 1951 novel *Kay Everett Calls CQ*.
More in Amateur Radio People, Part 2 1-24
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