2016 has shown that anyone can make it to the top in engineering, if they have the drive and passion.
The year began with the 30th anniversary of the death of Dorothée Pullinger.
Now Dorothée will always be remembered for her Galloway, the car she and her all-female team of engineers created in Scotland.
Not only was their hot rod a huge success, but Dorothée forged a highway for women into an engineering world that up until then had been entirely dominated by moustaches, pipes and put-you-downs.
She was born in France in 1894 but the family moved to the UK and Dorothée worked as a draughtswoman in Paisley.
At the outbreak of the First World War she found herself in charge of an army of female munitions workers, was awarded an MBE for her work, then became the first girl member of the Institution of Automobile Engineers.
Her career grew and as manager of Galloway Motors near Kirkcudbright, her technical know-how and management savvy meant steady employment for many a local lass.
Her Galloway, designed specifically for women, was light, small and had its gears in the middle. Like most women, it was also much more reliable.
It was also one of the first automobiles to come with a rear view mirror as standard – well, one’s windswept hair won’t tidy itself!
While Dorothée is quite rightly immortalised in the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame, you can see one of her fabulous Galloways in Glasgow’s Riverside Museum.
Of course, there have been many modern engineering triumphs to celebrate in 2016, such as the construction of Queensferry Crossing and completion of the Queen Street rail tunnel, not to mention the recent demolition of an entire motorway bridge and reinstatement of the M74 below in just 24 hours.
If these aren’t enough to inspire you to seek out pioneering roles among the many engineering vacancies on s1jobs, 2016 ends with news that a Scottish researcher is developing a jet engine for spaceships.
Yes, Lewis-born Dr Chris Macleod will be joined by students at Lews Castle College UHI, in Stornoway, to create a re-useable unit that can propel aircraft from a normal runway into space then safely back to terra firma again.
Yes, it’s true: Scottish engineering really can be out of this world.
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