--- title: Google Doodle Honors Native American Engineer Mary G. Ross description: Today’s Doodle celebrates Mary G. Ross, first Native American female engineer who made major contributions to aerospace industry canonical: https://time.com/5362032/google-doodle-mary-g-ross-native-american-engineer/ author: Casey Quackenbush article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-09T09:00:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:54.479Z og:title: Google Doodle Honors Native American Engineer Mary G. Ross og:description: Mary G. Ross' work opened the door for future female engineers og:url: https://time.com/5362032/google-doodle-mary-g-ross-native-american-engineer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1676285ad9244a4/698937648fd2ee452b35c56d/mary-g-ross-110th-birthday-4781894964084736-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: mary-g-ross-110th-birthday-4781894964084736-2x og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Google Doodle Honors Native American Engineer Mary G. Ross twitter:description: Mary G. Ross' work opened the door for future female engineers twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1676285ad9244a4/698937648fd2ee452b35c56d/mary-g-ross-110th-birthday-4781894964084736-2x.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Google Doodle Celebrates Mary G. Ross. Here's What to Know About the First Native American Woman Engineer ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 9, 2018 9:00 AM UTC  Google Doodle celebrates the 110th birthday of Mary G. Ross on August 9, 2018. Google Doodle celebrates the 110th birthday of Mary G. Ross on August 9, 2018.Google by [Casey Quackenbush](https://time.com/author/casey-quackenbush/) ## Casey Quackenbush Aug 9, 2018 9:00 AM UTC Today’s Google Doodle [celebrates](https://www.google.com/doodles/mary-g-ross-110th-birthday) the 110th birthday of Mary G. Ross, the first Native American woman engineer. Over the course of her five-decade career, Ross achieved many firsts and made major contributions to the aerospace industry. Here’s what to know about the trailblazer, born on Aug. 9, 1908, who opened the doors for future female engineers in the field. ## Who Was Mary G. Ross? Great-great granddaughter to Chief John Ross of the Cherokee Nation, Mary G. Ross was born in the small town of Park Hill in Oklahoma. Raised with the Cherokee value of learning, Ross pursued a path considered nontraditional for women. After receiving a degree in math from Northeastern State College, Ross taught math and science until she returned to school to earn her master’s in math from Colorado State College of Education. > [](https://twitter.com/melindagates/status/845991758228008960) ## What were her contributions to aerospace? In 1942, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company hired Ross as mathematician. But after a manager recognized her talent, Ross was sent to UCLA to earn a classification in aeronautical engineering. Lockheed then rehired her as their first female engineer. Ross would go on to work on major projects such as the Agena rocket, which was a crucial step in the Apollo program to land on the moon. She also was a part of SkunkWorks, a top-secret 40-member think tank where she was the only women aside from the secretary. Ross’ work there involved developing initial design concepts for interplanetary space travel, including flyby missions to Venus and Mars. “Often at night there were four of us working until 11 p.m.,” she once said according to Google. “I was the pencil pusher, doing a lot of research. My state of the art tools were a slide rule and a Frieden computer. We were taking the theoretical and making it real.”  Mary G. Ross Courtesy of Evelyn Ross McMillan/Google Doodle ## How did she open the door for women? Ross also devoted herself to encouraging women and Native Americans into careers in the field of STEM. She was a fellow of the [Society of Women Engineers](https://alltogether.swe.org/2018/08/remembering-mary-g-ross-first-american-indian-woman-engineer/), where she established a scholarship in her name to support future female engineers and technologists. To support fellow Native Americans, Ross also worked closely with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Council of Energy Resource Tribes to develop their educational programs. [According](https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/2018/nsb20181/report/sections/science-and-engineering-labor-force/women-and-minorities-in-the-s-e-workforce) to the National Science Foundation, only 0.1% of those working in science and engineering are female American Indians. And [according](https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2017/women-in-architecture-and-engineering-occupations-in-2016.htm) to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 8.1% of employed aerospace engineers are women. Mary G. Ross died on April 29, 2008 at the age of 99. Thursday’s Doodle depicts Ross’ portrait over a blueprint of the Agena rocket with the Earth and stars in the background. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5362032/google-doodle-mary-g-ross-native-american-engineer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5362032/google-doodle-mary-g-ross-native-american-engineer/"},"headline":"Google Doodle Celebrates Mary G. Ross. Here's What to Know About the First Native American Woman Engineer","datePublished":"2018-08-09T09:00:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:54.479Z","description":"Mary G. 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