Lillian Moller Gilbreth
Lillian Evelyn Gilbreth (née Moller; May 24, 1878 – January 2, 1972) was an American psychologist, industrial engineer, consultant, and educator who was an early pioneer in applying psychology to time-and-motion studies. She was described in the 1940s as "a genius in the art of living."[2] Gilbreth, one of the first female engineers to earn a Ph.D., is considered to be the first industrial/organizational psychologist.[1] She and her husband, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, were efficiency experts who contributed to the study of industrial engineering, especially in the areas of motion study and human factors. Cheaper by the Dozen (1948) and Belles on Their Toes (1950), written by two of their children (Ernestine and Frank Jr.) tell the story of their family life and describe how time-and-motion studies were applied to the organization and daily activities of their large family.[3] Both books were later made into feature films.[3]
Lillian Moller Gilbreth
January 2, 1972 (aged 93)
Seminal contributions to human factors engineering and ergonomics;
Therblig
National Academy of Engineering (elected 1965)
Hoover Medal (1966)
Early life and education[edit]
Lillie Evelyn Moller was born in Oakland, California, on May 24, 1878,[1] to Annie (née Delger) and William Moller, a builder's supply merchant. She was their second child and the eldest of the family's nine surviving children.[4] Their first child, Anna Adelaide, had died at age four months.[5] Her parents, of German ancestry, were well to-do. Educated at home until the age of nine, Moller began formal schooling in the first grade at a public elementary school and was rapidly promoted through the grade levels.[6] She was elected vice president of her senior class at Oakland High School and graduated with exemplary grades in May 1896.[7]
Although Moller wanted to go to college, her father was opposed to such education for his daughters. Because of this, she did not take all the required college preparatory courses in high school. She did persuade her father to let her try college for a year and was admitted to the University of California on the condition that she take the missing Latin course from high school in her first semester at university. In August 1896, Moller was one of 300 entering students. The University of California at that time was housed in four buildings in the hills above the little town of Berkeley. It charged no tuition for California residents and was underfunded. Classes were large and many were held in tents. There were no dormitories; men lived in nearby boarding houses and women commuted from home.[8]
Moller did well enough during her first year, coming in near the top of her class, that her father agreed to allow her to continue her education. She commuted from home on the streetcar, and in the evenings helped her mother with the household and her siblings with their homework. She majored in English, also studying philosophy and psychology, and had enough education courses to earn a teaching certificate. She also won a prize for poetry and acted in student plays.[1] In the spring of her senior year the new university president, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, asked her to be one of the student speakers at the commencement ceremonies. On May 16, 1900, she graduated from the university and became the first woman to speak at a University of California commencement. The title of her speech was "Life: A Means or an End".[9][10]
Moller had begun to think of a professional career rather than staying at home after graduation. She now wished to be called Lillian because she felt it was a more dignified name for a university graduate, and she left home to enroll in graduate school at Columbia University in New York City. Her literature professor Charles Gayley had suggested she study there with Brander Matthews. Graduate enrollment at Columbia was almost half women at the time, but Matthews would not allow them in his classes. Instead, she studied literature with George Edward Woodberry.[11] A lasting influence was her study with the psychologist Edward Thorndike, newly appointed at Columbia. Though she became ill with pleurisy and was brought home by her father, she continued to refer to him in her later work.[12] Back in California, she returned to the University of California in August 1901 to work toward a master's degree in literature. Under the supervision of Gayley, she wrote a thesis on Ben Jonson's play Bartholomew Fair, and received her master's degree in the spring of 1902.[13][11]
Moller began studies for a PhD at the University of California, but took time off to travel through Europe in the spring of 1903. Following her marriage to Frank Bunker Gilbreth in 1904 and relocation to New York,[10] she completed a dissertation for a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1911, but was not awarded the degree due to her noncompliance with residency requirements for doctoral candidates.[14] The dissertation was published as The Psychology of Management: The Function of the Mind in Determining, Teaching and Installing Methods of Least Waste in 1914.[15][16]
After the Gilbreths relocated their family to Providence, Rhode Island, Lillian enrolled at Brown University. She earned a Ph.D. in applied psychology in 1915, which made her the first of the pioneers of industrial management to have a doctorate.[16][17] The topic of her dissertation was efficient teaching methods and titled Some Aspects of Eliminating Waste in Teaching.[18]
Marriage and family[edit]
Lillian Moller met Frank Bunker Gilbreth in June 1903 in Boston, Massachusetts, en route to Europe with her chaperone, who was Frank's cousin.[19] He had apprenticed in several building trades in the East and established a contracting business with offices in Boston, New York, and London.[20]
The couple married on October 19, 1904, in Oakland, California, and settled in New York. They later moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and eventually relocated their family to Montclair, New Jersey.[16]
As planned, the Gilbreths became the parents of a large family that included twelve children. One died young in 1912; one was still-born in 1915; and eleven of them lived to adulthood, including Ernestine Gilbreth, Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr., and Robert Moller Gilbreth.[3][21][22]
After Frank died of a heart attack on June 14, 1924, Lillian never remarried.[23]
Death and legacy[edit]
Gilbreth died of a stroke on January 2, 1972, in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of ninety-three.[71][72] Her ashes were scattered at sea.
Gilbreth was best known for her work as an industrial engineer and a pioneer in the field of management theory. Dubbed "America's first lady of engineering,"[73] she brought her training in psychology to time-and-motion studies and demonstrated how companies and industries could improve their management techniques, efficiency, and productivity. Gilbreth's extensive research and writings on her own and in collaboration with her husband emphasized "the human element in scientific management."[74] Her expertise and major contribution to the field of scientific management was integrating the psychological and mental processes with the time-and-motion studies. She also helped make these types of studies widely accepted. In addition, Gilbreth was among the first to establish industrial engineering curricula in college and university engineering schools. Gilbreth's book, The Psychology of Management (1914), was an early major work in the history of engineering thought and the first to combine psychology with elements of management theory.[75] Major repositories of Gilbreth materials are at the Archives Center of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.,[76] and at Purdue University Library, Archives and Special Collections, at West Lafayette, Indiana.[77][78]
Gilbreth also made contributions on behalf of women. Her pioneering work in industrial engineering influenced women in the field. In addition to her lectures on various engineering topics, she encouraged women to study industrial engineering and management.[79] Purdue awarded its first PhD in engineering to a woman in 1950, two years after Gilbreth retired from the university.[71]
Several engineering awards have been named in Gilbreth's honor. The National Academy of Engineering established the Lillian M. Gilbreth Lectureships in 2001 to recognize outstanding young American engineers.[80] The highest honor bestowed by the Institute of Industrial Engineers is the Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Industrial Engineering Award for "those who have distinguished themselves through contributions to the welfare of mankind in the field of industrial engineering".[81] The Lillian M. Gilbreth Distinguished Professor award at Purdue University is bestowed on a member of the industrial engineering department.[82] The Society of Women Engineers awards the Lillian Moller Gilbreth Memorial Scholarship to female engineering undergraduates.[83]
Two of the Gilbreth children also paid tribute to their mother in books about their family life. Cheaper by the Dozen (1948), a bestseller by Gilbreth's son, Frank Jr., and daughter, Ernestine, was made into a motion picture in 1950 starring Myrna Loy as Lillian and Clifton Webb as Frank. The book's sequel, Belles on Their Toes (1950), also written by Frank Jr. and Ernestine, was made into a motion picture sequel in 1952.[84] Frank Jr. also paid tribute to his mother in Time Out for Happiness (1972).[71]
In 2018, the College of Engineering at Purdue University established the prestigious Lillian Gilbreth Postdoctoral Fellowship Program to attract and prepare outstanding individuals with recently awarded Ph.D.'s for a career in engineering academia through interdisciplinary research, training, and professional development.[85]
Gilbreth received numerous awards and honors for her contributions.