Born into a life of privilege in 1878, Lillian Moller Gilbreth put her
pampered life aside for one of adventure and challenge. She and her
husband, Frank, became efficiency experts by studying the actions of
factory workers. They ran their home efficiently, too. When Frank
suddenly died, Lillian was left to her own devices to raise their eleven
children. Eventually, she was hired by the Brooklyn Borough Gas Company
to improve kitchen design, which was only the beginning.
Lillian Gilbreth was the subject of two movies (Cheaper by the Dozen
and Belles on Their Toes), the first woman elected to the National
Academy of Engineering, and the first female psychologist to have a U.S.
postage stamp issued in her honor. A leading efficiency expert, she was
also an industrial engineer, a psycologist, an author, a professor, and
an inventor.