Muriel Glauert facts for kids

Muriel Glauert (born Muriel Barker) was a talented British mathematician. She lived from 1892 to 1949. Muriel made very important discoveries in the early days of aerodynamics. This is the science of how air moves and how things fly.

Early Life and Learning

Muriel Barker was born in Nottingham. Her father made textiles, which are fabrics. She went to Nottingham Girls' High School. There, she won awards for being excellent in German, maths, and chemistry.

From 1912 to 1915, Muriel studied at Newnham College in Cambridge. She finished a special maths course called the Mathematical Tripos. At that time, Cambridge University did not give degrees to women. So, her degree was officially given by London University instead.

Working at the Royal Aircraft Establishment

After college, Muriel taught in Liverpool for a while. In 1918, she joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) in Farnborough. This was a place where people researched airplanes. Muriel worked there as a scientist.

One of her first studies at RAE was about how air flows over an aerofoil. An aerofoil is the shape of an airplane wing. In 1919, she went to study at Bryn Mawr for a year. Then, she did more studies in aeronautics (the science of flight) at Cambridge.

In August 1922, Muriel published an important paper. It was about using very small tubes to measure wind speed. These tubes are called Pitot tubes. A Pitot tube is a thin tube with two holes. It helps measure how fast something is moving through air or water. Ships and airplanes use them. Muriel was the first to show that the difference a Pitot tube reads is directly related to the speed of the air flow.

In the same year, she went back to the RAE. She became engaged to and later married Hermann Glauert. He was also a scientist who studied aerodynamics at the RAE.

Later Career

Sadly, Muriel's husband, Hermann, died in an accident in 1934. After this, Muriel became an examiner for maths. She worked for the London, Cambridge, and Joint Northern Universities.

In 1940, she wrote one more important paper. This paper looked at how raindrops are caught by a cylinder and an aerofoil. This was important because ice can form on airplane wings during flight. This can be very dangerous.

Personal Life

Muriel was married to Hermann Glauert. They had three children: Michael, and twins Audrey and Richard. Muriel Glauert passed away in 1949. She was buried next to her husband.