The Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) was the first of its kind when it opened doors in Trondheim in 1910. For the first time, engineers who were perceived as central to the country’s industrial development could be educated in Norway. Of the 4,311 students admitted to NTH before 1940, twenty were women who embarked on the course in chemical engineering. In this prosopographical study, I aim to examine closely the first cohorts of women engineers in Norway, their motivations for studying chemical engineering, their career opportunities and choices and the extent to which they were supported by mentors. Sixteen women who completed their degrees have been investigated, and the lives and careers of three women who represent three common chemical industries in Norway during the first third of the twentieth century are studied in depth. I argue that the special place of NTH in Norwegian society prompted ambitious women to seek careers in chemical engineering. Because these candidates’ competence was highly valued, they overcame the barriers otherwise experienced by women in Norwegian society in the early twentieth century.

挪威理工学院 (NTH) 于 1910 年在特隆赫姆成立，是同类中的第一所。第一次，被视为国家工业发展核心的工程师可以在挪威接受教育。在 1940 年之前被 NTH 录取的 4,311 名学生中，有 20 名是开始学习化学工程课程的女性。在这项 proopographical 研究中，我的目标是仔细研究挪威的第一批女工程师、她们学习化学工程的动机、她们的职业机会和选择，以及她们在多大程度上得到导师的支持。对 16 名完成学位的女性进行了调查，并深入研究了代表 20 世纪前三分之一挪威三个常见化学工业的三名女性的生活和职业。我认为 NTH 在挪威社会中的特殊地位促使雄心勃勃的女性寻求化学工程职业。由于这些候选人的能力受到高度重视，她们克服了 20 世纪初挪威社会中女性所经历的障碍。