Janet Zaph Briggs (February 7, 1912 – January 25, 1974) was an American metallurgist, the first woman to earn a mining engineering degree from Stanford University, and an expert on molybdenum.

She attended Stanford University, where she was vice president of the aviation club, and learned to fly while earning degrees in mining engineering in 1931 and 1933.

[1] Her master's thesis at Stanford was titled "A Short Study of the Making, Working, and Properties of Ancient Iron.

[7] As an amateur aviator, Janet Zaph Briggs earned her private pilot's license in 1930, and was one of the nine charter members[8] of the Bay Cities chapter of the Ninety-Nines.

She was also posthumously awarded a "Fourth Class Order of the Sacred Treasure" by the Emperor of Japan for her contributions to the Japanese steel industry.