{{short description|American engineer (1885-1957)}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Olive Dennis |image = Olive Dennis.jpg |image_size = 200px |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1885|11|20}} |birth_place = Thurlow, Pennsylvania |residence = |death_date = {{death date and age|1957|11|05|1885|11|20}} |death_place = Baltimore, Maryland |field = Engineering |work_institution = B&O Railroad |alma_mater = Goucher College <br /> Columbia University <br /> Cornell University |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Railway service improvements |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = }}
'''Olive Wetzel Dennis''' (November 20, 1885 – November 5, 1957)<ref>{{cite news|title=OLIVE DENNIS FUNERAL SET|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|date=7 November 1957}}</ref> was an engineer whose design innovations changed the nature of railway travel. Born in Thurlow, Pennsylvania, she grew up in Baltimore.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/1997/11/23/she-took-the-pain-out-of-the-train-innovator-one-of-the-first-women-to-earn-a-cornell-engineering-degree-olive-dennis-helped-make-rail-travel-less-complicated-and-more-comfortable/|title=She took the pain out of the train Innovator: One of the first women to earn a Cornell engineering degree, Olive Dennis helped make rail travel less complicated and more comfortable.|work=tribunedigital-baltimoresun|access-date=2018-09-12|language=en}}</ref> In 2026, Ms. Dennis was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2026-04-07 |title=Olive Dennis {{!}} National Inventors Hall of Fame® Inductee |url=https://www.invent.org/inductees/olive-dennis |access-date=2026-04-07 |website=www.invent.org |language=en}}</ref>
==Career== She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Goucher College in 1908, and a master's degree in mathematics from Columbia University the following year. After teaching at Wisconsin, she decided to study civil engineering and studied at Cornell University, earning her degree in only one year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2015/02/cornell-rewind-phenomenal-first-women-engineering|title=Cornell Rewind: Phenomenal first women of engineering|website=Cornell Chronicle|language=en|access-date=2019-03-23}}</ref> In 1920, she became only the second woman to obtain a Civil Engineering degree from Cornell {{Disputed inline|date=March 2017}}. She was hired that year as a draftsman by the B & O Railroad to design bridges, the first of which was in Painesville, Ohio.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/olive-dennis-train-comfort-engineer|title=The 'Lady Engineer' Who Took the Pain Out of the Train|last=Giaimo|first=Cara|date=2018-04-09|website=Atlas Obscura|language=en|access-date=2019-03-23}}</ref> The following year, Daniel Willard,<ref name=":1" /> President of the railroad observed that, since half of the railway's passengers were women, the task of engineering upgrades in service would best be handled by a female engineer. Dennis became the first "service engineer" when the B. & O. created the position. Engineer Kurt H. Debus described her as the first service engineer in America.<ref>Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, Ed., ''The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science'', p. 348.</ref> Later on in her career, B. &. O. tasked Dennis with designing an entire train that incorporated all of her innovations. This train, the Cincinnatian, was deemed "the crowning glory of her career" by historian Sharon Harwood.<ref name=":1" /> She was also the first female member of the American Railway Engineering Association.<ref name=":0" /> She was elected as a member of the British Women's Engineering Society in 1931.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_3a.html|title=The Woman Engineer|last=|first=|date=|website=www2.theiet.org|access-date=2019-07-03|archive-date=2020-11-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119083109/http://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_3a.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Innovations== Among the innovations that Ms. Dennis introduced on passenger trains were seats that could partially recline; stain-resistant upholstery in passenger cars; larger dressing rooms for women, supplied with free paper towels, liquid soap and drinking cups; ceiling lights that could be dimmed at night; individual window vents (which she patented) to allow passengers to bring in fresh air while trapping dust; and, later, air conditioned compartments. Other rail carriers followed suit in the years that followed, and buses and airlines, in turn, had to upgrade their level of comfort in order to compete with the railroads.
Her legacy for these innovations and comforts goes largely unknown outside of the railroad community. Her design patents were signed over to the railroad and her name does not appear in the publicity materials for the Cincinnatian, despite her designing it.<ref name=":1" />
==Sources== *''Current Biography'' 1941 yearbook, pp. 220–221 *Sybil E. Hatch, ''Changing Our World: True Stories of Women Engineers'' (ASCE Publications, 2006) *Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie and Joy Dorothy Harvey, eds., ''The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science'' (Taylor & Francis, 2000)
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.engineergirl.org/?id=11835 Olive Dennis - Engineer Girl] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20190626210507/http://www.eduborail.org/Olive-W-Dennis.aspx Olive W. Dennis - B&O Railroad Museum] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120702102243/http://www.asce.org/People-and-Projects/People/Womens-History/Profiles--Engineers-of-the-Past/ Olive Dennis - Engineers of the Past profile] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120526090521/http://www.goucher.edu/x46553.xml Goucher College and Olive Dennis] {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dennis, Olive}} Category:American civil engineers Category:Goucher College alumni Category:Cornell University College of Engineering alumni Category:1957 deaths Category:1885 births Category:Engineers from Baltimore Category:Baltimore and Ohio Railroad people Category:20th-century American women inventors Category:Engineers from Pennsylvania Category:Engineers from Maryland Category:20th-century American engineers Category:20th-century American women engineers Category:20th-century American inventors Category:Women's Engineering Society