Charles Parsons invented the steam turbine, which revolutionized the propulsion of ships and continues to drive the power-generation system on which the modern world depends. He is regarded as an outstanding genius among engineers. Read more...
Rachel Parsons (1885–1956) was one of the most remarkable and trailblazing women of her age, but – like so many women who achieved greatness and notoriety in their own time – she has disappeared from the pages of history. Read more...
Mary Parsons, countess of Rosse, played a vital role in creating the Leviathan and became an influential pioneer of photography, building her own darkroom at Birr. Most unusually for a woman of her class, she was also a skilled blacksmith. Read more...
In the 1840s William Parsons, third earl of Rosse, built the world’s largest telescope, the six-foot-diameter Leviathan of Parsonstown, at Birr Castle, Co. Offaly. He was president of the Royal Society 1848–54. Read more...
Katharine Parsons was a prominent suffragette who campaigned for women’s employment rights. She was co-founder of the Women’s Engineering Society and of Atalanta Ltd, an engineering firm employing only women. Read more...
Caroline Haslett was a pioneer in the field of electrical engineering who did much to further the cause of women’s employment from the 1920s to the 1950s. She was the first secretary of the Women’s Engineering Society. Read more...