I knew that if I failed, there wouldn’t be another woman on the Antarctic continent for a generation...
Professor Irene Peden making an appeal for more women to join the engineering field. (UWTV presents UW 360)
Irene Peden in Laboratory
Beginning in the early 1960s, UW Professors H. Myron Swarm and Donald Reynold initiated unprecedented on-site research in the Antarctic, studying the behavior of very low-frequency radio waves between the ice and stone beneath, and the ionosphere – one of the layers of the earth’s atmosphere – above.
Scientists working in the Antarctic interior faced brutal conditions – numbing cold, dangerous storms, spartan accommodations, extreme isolation, and many other hardships. But in addition to those difficulties, UW researcher Irene Peden faced another obstacle – her gender. Peden joined the UW in 1961 in the Department of Electrical Engineering, the first woman hired to the College of Engineering faculty. In 1970, against much opposition, Peden became the first woman to conduct field research in the Antarctic interior.
Peden developed new methods to measure the electromagnetic properties of the Antarctic ice sheet and of the underlying terrain, data critical to communications and navigation in the South Polar Region. The ionosphere’s lower layers and the ice and terrain create a “sandwich” at the Antarctic surface within which radio waves bounce back and forth, and propagate over long distances. She has received multiple honors – including the naming of the Peden Cliffs along Garfield Glacier, deep in the Antarctic.
Dr. Irene Peden celebrates her 90th birthday with colleagues and students, in 2015. (Department of Electrical Engineering. University of Washington)
Header image: Irene Peden was the first woman to conduct field research in the Antarctic. (http://ian.macky.net/pat/)
Further Reading
- OSU Transcript (PDF)
Transcript of a 2002 oral history interview with Irene Peden
Ohio State University - “Astronaut Trainee Manages to Find Time for Her Social Life” (PDF)
Article and photo of Irene Peden and astronaut Bonnie Dunbar, 7/16/1980
Seattle Times - Peden’s Antarctic Study (PDF)
Irene Peden’s pathbreaking work reported, 1/3/1971
Seattle Times - Society of Women Engineers Transcript (PDF)
Transcript of a 2002 oral history interview with Irene Peden
Society of Women Engineers - “Professor Heads Longwire from Afar” (PDF)
On page 12 of the Daily, 10/6/1967, Irene Peden conducted long-distance
research in Antarctica, years before on-site work.
University of Washington Daily - “UW Antarctic Researchers Find New Radio Data” (PDF)
UW graduate student George Webber reports on 13-month stay at Antarctic
research station, working with low-frequency radio wave research, using
Longwire, reported 12/21/1967
Seattle Times - “The Missing Half in Engineering – Can We Motivate the Girls?” (PDF)
Article by Irene Peden urging the recruitment of women to engineering
programs and the training of girls in math and sciences.
The Mathematics Teacher Vol. 58, No. 1 (January 1965) Peden Collection,
University Archives, Special Collections, UW Libraries - “Women in Engineering” (PNG)
Article by Jane Andre, exploring the role of women engineers, particularly
within the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace
(SPEEA) at Boeing.
SPEEA newsletter 1965, Peden Collection, University Archives, Special Collections, UW Libraries - “Why Don’t Women Go Into Engineering?” (PNG)
Sigirid Marczoch explores the topic, exploring the mindset against which Irene Peden worked.
The American Engineer 1964, Peden Collection, University Archives, Special Collections, UW Libraries - “Engineers In Skirts” (PNG)
Provocatively titled article, collected by Irene Peden
Peden Collection, University Archives, Special Collections, UW Libraries
