Marion Rice Hart (10 October 1891 – July 2, 1990)[1] was an American sportswoman and writer and the first woman to graduate in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Marion Hart was born in London, the fourth of six children of Julia (née Barnett) and Isaac Rice,[2] a businessman who founded the Electric Boat Company[3] (producer of submarines for the US Navy and others).
[2] In 1936, having been working as a sculptor in Avignon, France, Marion Hart captained a 72-foot ketch around the world in a three-year voyage, mostly unaccompanied after firing a number of incompetent skippers and learning how to navigate herself.
She made seven further solo flights across the Atlantic (the last at 83), and flew in the United States, Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, flying alone until she was 87.
[5] She was awarded the 1975 Harmon Trophy for ''for her consistently outstanding performance as a private pilot operating small aircraft on a global scale.