Born: 1900 (Chippenham, Wiltshire)
Died: 1977
Biography:
Beryl May Dent MIEE (10 May 1900 – 9 August 1977) was an English mathematical physicist, technical librarian, and a programmer of early analogue and digital computers to solve electrical engineering problems. She was born in Chippenham, Wiltshire, the eldest daughter of schoolteachers. The family left Chippenham in 1901, after her father became head teacher of the then recently established Warminster County School.
In 1923, Dent graduated from the University of Bristol with First Class Honours in applied mathematics. Her exceptional academic performance led to her being awarded the Ashworth Hallett scholarship by the university and being accepted as a postgraduate student at Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
Dent’s career took her back to Bristol in 1925, when she was appointed as a researcher in the Physics Department at the University of Bristol. Her salary was funded by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. It was during this time that she became a research assistant to Professor John Lennard-Jones, who had been appointed Professor of Theoretical Physics. Lennard-Jones was a pioneer in the theory of interatomic and intermolecular forces, and Dent became one of his first collaborators. Together, they published six papers from 1926 to 1928, laying the foundation for her master’s thesis on the forces between atoms and ions. Their work proved to be groundbreaking and had direct application to the field of atomic force microscopy, predicting that non-contact imaging is possible only at small tip-sample separations.
In 1930, Dent joined Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd in Manchester as a technical librarian for the scientific and technical staff of the research department. She quickly became active in the Association of Special Libraries and Information Bureaux (ASLIB), serving as the honorary secretary to the founding committee for the Lancashire and Cheshire branch of the association. Dent’s expertise in library and information services led to her serving on various ASLIB committees and presenting at conferences.
Despite her role as a librarian, Dent continued to contribute to scientific research. She published papers on numerical methods for solving differential equations, utilizing the differential analyser built for the University of Manchester and Douglas Hartree. Dent’s contributions also extended to the development of a detailed reduced major axis method for the best fit of a series of data points, demonstrating her vast knowledge in the field.
Later in her career, Dent assumed leadership positions within Metropolitan-Vickers. She led the computation section and subsequently became a supervisor in the research department, guiding the investigations into semiconducting materials. Dent’s valuable contributions were not limited to the company, as she also joined the Women’s Engineering Society and published papers on the application of digital computers to electrical design.
Dent retired in 1960, marking the end of an illustrious career. Isabel Hardwich, who would later become a fellow and president of the Women’s Engineering Society, took over Dent’s role as section leader for women in the research department. In 1962, Dent relocated to Sompting, West Sussex, along with her mother and sister.
Beryl May Dent made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics, physics, and computer science, leaving an indelible mark on scientific research and engineering. Her groundbreaking work on interatomic forces and data analysis continues to influence the scientific community to this day.