Vera Isabella Furness MBE (2 June 1921 –2002) was an English chemist and industrial manager who worked for Courtaulds in Coventry and later Campsie from 1953 to 1981.
[4] Furness declined the offer of a full-time teaching job after finishing her Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1952 and went back to industrial research because she felt that was where her interest was.
[3] She joined Courtaulds in Coventry in 1953,[1] and worked on producing Courtelle, an acrylic, and then developed a copolymer that would allow for a more successful commercial dying of the filter.
[2][4] Furness was asked to lower energy consumption across each of the 400 sites in the United Kingdom during the oil crisis and did so by establishing objectives based on production.
[4] She was appointed general manager of Courtaulds Research Division in their factory in Campsie, County Tyrone and held the position from May 1970 to 1976.