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Memorable Manitobans: Yvonne Claeys Brill (1924-2013)
Engineer. Born at Winnipeg on 30 December 1924, she was once denied entry to the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Engineering because she was female. She later received a degree from the University then moved to the United States where she received an MS degree from the University of Southern California. She worked at Douglas Aircraft and RCA Astro Electronics, and later at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the International Maritime Satellite Organization. She had a distinguished career in rocket science, believed to be among the few woman working in this field. In 1983, she developed a system to keep communications satellites in their orbits, for which she was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame (2009) and the National Inventors Hall of Fame (2010). She also received the AIAA Wyld Award, AAES John Fritz Medal, NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (2001) and, in 2011, the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Barack Obama. She died at Princeton, New York on 27 March 2013. Sources:“Yvonne Brill,” National Inventors Hall of Fame. “Pioneer Canadian rocket scientist dead at age 88,” Toronto Sun, 31 March 2013. This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough. Page revised: 31 March 2013
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