'Fierce' UND alum was first female professional at NASA's predecessor

Jan. 3—GRAND FORKS — Pearl Irma Young, the first female professional employed by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, the predecessor of NASA, unapologetically pursued her ambitions and uplifted others throughout an illustrious, decades-long career.

"She was a fierce STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) woman," said Caitlin Milera, research assistant professor of aerospace at University of North Dakota. "She was advocating for everyone. Women weren't paid the same. They weren't recognized the same. They were held back and (had) all these different barriers."

Throughout her careers as a scientist, professor, teacher, physicist, journalist, technical editor and researcher, Young fought for her own professional advancements, as well as those of her friends and colleagues.

"I think she understood what it was like to not have much, and to work really hard," Milera said. "I think when you grow up like that, you recognize there's plenty for everyone. We can all work together and help each other out. I think she just carried that mentality throughout her life."

Young was born on Oct. 12, 1895, in Taopi, Minnesota, but grew up in North Dakota, according to UND Special Collections archives. The second of 11 children in a low-income household, she left home to begin domestic work at age 11.

This choice enabled Young to pursue an education, a path that was hardly a guarantee at the time, Milera said.

"She must have been very deliberate in her decision to continue and graduate," Milera said.

After graduating from Rugby High School in 1914, Young attended Jamestown College and Woodworth School No. 2 before enrolling at UND. In 1919, she graduated with three majors: physics, mathematics and chemistry.

"Can you imagine?" Milera said. "You want to study physics, and you think it's so cool, but it's 100 years ago. There are no other women doing it."

Young was undeterred.

After graduating, Young served as faculty for UND's physics department, while also teaching at a school in Alvarado, Minnesota. During that time, she took a civil service exam that was required to qualify for technical positions within the federal government.

"I don't know that her original intent was to work for NACA, but she wanted to work for the federal government," Milera said.

NACA was established in 1915. Its first research and testing facility — then known as the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory — opened in 1920 in Hampton, Virginia.

When Young began working there in April of 1922, she was NACA's first female technical employee, and only the second female physicist working for the federal government.

It would be more than a decade before NACA hired additional female technical employees.

"She was there by herself — as the only woman — from 1922 until 1935," Milera said.

Hired as a laboratory assistant, Young was promoted multiple times during her 21 years at LMAL. She was first promoted to junior physicist, then assistant technical editor and finally two different classifications of associate technical editor.

Employees were either classified as 'P' for professional or 'CAF' for clerical, administrative and fiscal. As a physicist, Young was a professional. When she became an editor, her classification varied.

"They would go back and forth between how they classified her, which showcases the barriers (she faced,)" Milera said.

Clerical, administrative and fiscal employees were paid less and received less recognition than professionals. However, Young took on more responsibilities as an editor than she had as a physicist, Milera said.

"She was trying to advocate for her technical editing section to be classified as a research office and not a clerical office, because they were still doing the research," Milera said. "The engineers would just toss the report to them, then they were the ones expected to do everything to make it a readable report."

While working at the LMAL, Young was also a part-time reporter and features editor for the Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch, according to UND archives.

In 1943, Young transferred to the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory, a NACA center in Ohio. Young wrote letters to her former employers recommending one of her closest friends, Viola Ohler, as her replacement.

"That's the way we have to go about it, right?" Milera said. "Lifting each other up. There's not just a set amount of success available and everybody gets a little piece. No, there's plenty for everyone, and I think she recognized that."

Young lifted up colleagues — women and men alike — because she recognized their worth and dedication to the field, Milera said.

That same year, Young published a Style Manual for Engineering Authors, which NACA implemented in all of its centers. Reports were quickly recognized for their improved form, accuracy and technical content, according to a speech Viola Ohler wrote about Young.

"It also helped the advancement of science, and the advancement of technology, because it was clearly communicating to other engineers and other scientists around the world what the next steps were in their research," Milera said.

The manual, translated into multiple languages, was used by space agencies around the world. Even decades after NACA transitioned to NASA, the manual was still in use, she said.

"It helped during World War II, because it's all about these technical reports, and making sure communication was efficient," Milera said. "They got to the point that it was a clear system, and everybody stayed consistent."

Young was widely recognized and respected for the style manual. Six months after its publication, she was promoted to technical editor — a position she recommended NACA create — according to Milera's 2022 dissertation on Young's life and work.

While working full-time at the AERL, Young taught evening classes to engineers, showing them how to write technical reports. Her desire to keep learning, and keep educating, persisted throughout her lifetime, Milera said.

The manual was Young's largest technical contribution throughout her career, but Milera believes Young's largest overall contribution was more personal.

"(It's) probably what she did for others," Milera said. "Advocating for what was right, and how she called it, 'raising hell,'" Milera said. "She said that multiple times in her letters, and I was like: yeah, that's exactly what she was doing."

Young continued to "raise hell" even after more than two decades in the field. In November 1943, she wrote a letter to Ohler, explaining that her team's work had been changed without notice.

"We just raised hell — and now if they want to even have a comma changed, they tell us ... and we retype it ourselves," she wrote.

In another letter, she wrote, "one false move on their part and I'll raise hell."

Young also pushed for adequate staffing and requested that her team had seats at the table for important discussions, Milera wrote in her dissertation.

In 1947, Young left NACA and returned to teaching. She believed World War II veterans were in need of physics educators and wanted to teach in Japan, but faced blatant sexism from a U.S. military leader, Milera said.

"There will be no women physics teachers in Japan as long as I'm in command," Gen. Douglas McArthur said, according to Milera's dissertation.

Instead, Young taught engineering physics at Pennsylvania State University for 10 years. She returned to NACA from 1957 to 1960, then resigned.

At Fresno State College in California, Young taught for one more year before retiring.

Retirement didn't slow her down, though. From 1962 until her death, Young continued researching aviators, an endeavor she began in the late 1940s, according to UND archives.

In the mid-1960s, Young became ill with cancer, according to UND archives. She died on June 16, 1968.

Nearing her death, Young still thought of others: She donated her body to science and $15,000 to Hampton, Virginia, so benches and shelters could be built at bus stops throughout the city. Young relied on public transportation because she didn't drive, according to a 1971 Newport News Times-Herald article.

Young never married, but she reportedly adopted a child in her later years, Milera said.

"Even that is against the grain," Milera said. "I think she was just so into her work, and she loved her friends, so maybe she never found that need to get married."

Throughout her 72 years of life, Young stayed true to herself — never wavering in her morals, values or passions, Milera said. She always cared about educating others and doing the right thing, despite being the lone woman in her field for years.

While it's important to share Young's — and others' — stories of persistence, that's not all that needs to be done, Milera said.

"(We need to) focus on changing the environment, and not, 'Oh, you just have to persist through these barriers,'" she said. "How about we break the barriers down, and change the system itself and make it a more welcoming place?"

UND offers a $2,500 Pearl I. Young Scholarship for women and other underrepresented genders pursuing STEM degrees at UND. Applications are due Feb. 15.

"I feel like we can all see a little bit of ourselves in Pearl, right?" Milera said. "Or a little Pearl in us, and I think that's the coolest part."