, 1900-11-12
WOMAN ELECTRICIAN.
SHE RECENTLY ASTOUNDED
PARIS CONGRESS.
Mrs. Ayrton of England Said to Be the
Foremost Expert In Europe-The In
Tontive Faculty Counts for Much In
Her Success.

Prof. Silvanus Thompson. the dis
tInguished English electrician. speak
ing of the electrical congress at Paris,
said at a public meeting in London
the other day, that undoubtedly the
most remarkable paper read was Que
by a lady. an English female e%lectri-
clan. A representative Of the Gentle
oma was promptly dispatched to iI-
terview this lady. Mrs. Ayrton. who
gave an interesting account of how
she has attained the enviable position
she now fills as an expert electrician,
Il was always interested in it." said
Mrs. Ayrton. Il made a little ;nven-
ton at Girton for measuring the beats
of the pulse, but afterwards | found
such an instrument to be already IN
existence. | commenced teaching after
leaving college. 1t was then that |
invented a machine for dividing up Il
line into any number of equal parts.
/ really lsgup to study electricity at
the en1 Of 1884. 1t interested me so
immensely with its gigantic possihili-
ties"
In 1899 Mrs. Ayrton was elected as
a member of the Institution of Elec-
trical Engineers, being the one and
only oma there.
Yes" she said. 1T was after l read
my paper on The Kissing of the Elec-
trio Are Mr.. Swan, the then presi-
dent, after hearing me, said he hoped
soon to see m a member. and | was
shortly after nominated. But before
then | had written a certain amount,
and had read papers before other socie-
ties. The first things l wrote were
twelve articles for the Electrician, on
my experiments and theories with re-
gard to the electrical arc. But before
them my husband had, done a great
deal of work on the subject. He read
a paper on it at the Chicago congress
in 1898. and | helped him with some
of the experiments, writing to him
from here. But the paper got burnt
by accident, u%nhappily, so that it was
never published. But l vas so charmed
with my subject that | went on with
the work on ny own Sccount. and
devised new apparatus for that pur-
pose, When | wanted to publish my
results | found / had to reconstruct
Prof. Ayrton's paper from my old
notes. as it was useless to give mine
unless that was done"
And how do men view your intru-
sion into this particular sphere?"
Il have always found them most
kind, helpful and obliging. Jealous?
Not in the least. They are always glad
to do all they can for me-"
do you think that there is a gen.
uine opening for women in this field?"
Mrs. Ayrton grew enthusiastic.
Yes, in the making CT electrical in
struments, | am sure Of it. The work
is one well within their scope. / am
certain that any woman having a logi-
cal mind and some interest in the study
could make a way for herself. There
is such a tremendous demand for
workers now. far exceeding the sup
ply
And how" I said. would one
start?"
wen, pue suouiu Hlsl eHleI HciScil
as a student at one Of the technical COL
leges-the Central Technical college at
South Kensington. or the Finsbury
Technical college, where women are
admitted. She should stay there for a
three years course, and at the end OF
that time she could set-at the first
mentioned institutional diploma. A
two years practical training would
then be necessary, and afterward she
would start a factory"
And EARN"
Anything from two or three hun
dred a year to thousands. 1t depends,
of course, on the individual. The in
~ventive faculty counts for so much.
| There are magnificent openings for