Shirley Ellen Schwartz or Ellen Shirley Schwartz (August 26, 1935 – May 8, 2016) was a chemist and research scientist at General Motors, specializing in the study and development of industrial lubricants and automobile

oil change Motor oil, engine oil, or engine lubricant is any one of various substances used for the lubrication of internal combustion engines. They typically consist of base oils enhanced with various additives, particularly antiwear additives, detergen ...

indicator systems. She was inducted into the

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (MWHOF) honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. The hall of fame was founded in 1983 by Gladys Beckwith and is sponsored by the Michi ...

in 1996 for her accomplishments in the field of chemistry.

Early life and education

She was born Ellen Shirley Eckwall in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, grew up in the Detroit suburb of Pleasant Ridge, and graduated from Lincoln High School in Ferndale. Schwartz earned three academic degrees in chemistry. She attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

where she received her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1957. She then enrolled at

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

and earned her master's degree 1962 and her doctorate in 1970.

Career

After teaching at Oakland Community College and the

Detroit Institute of Technology The Detroit Institute of Technology was a private four-year technical college in Detroit, Michigan that closed operations in 1981. History First called the Association Institute, the private school was founded in 1891 as a YMCA evening school ...

, Schwartz began working at BASF Corporation in

Wyandotte, Michigan Wyandotte ( ) is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 25,058 at the 2020 census. Wyandotte is located in southeastern Michigan, approximately south of Detroit on the Detroit River, and it is part of the coll ...

, where she developed an industrial lubricant that, by virtue of being primarily water, reduced the amount of oil and consequently pollution. She then spent over 18 years working at General Motors, where she was senior research scientist, working in Research and Development Operations at the

General Motors Technical Center The GM Technical Center is a General Motors facility in Warren, Michigan. The campus has been the center of the company's engineering effort since its inauguration in 1956. In 2000 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places; fourtee ...

Warren, Michigan Warren is a city in Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The 2020 Census places the city's population at 139,387, making Warren the largest city in Macomb County, the third largest city in Michigan, and Metro Detroit's largest suburb. T ...

. During her career she came to hold more than 20 patents, and authored 173 technical papers. From 1989 to 2003 she wrote a regular column titled ''Love Letters to Lubrication Engineers'' in the journal of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers, and was remembered in a 2016 memorial in that journal as "the mother of the oil life monitor found in most GM cars, which is responsible for not having to change oil nearly as often as we did previously, or conversely, not ruining your engine if you don't change it often enough." When presenting her with an achievement award in 1999, the Society of Women Engineers summarized Dr. Schwartz's career thusly: "Dr. Schwartz has examined engine oil degradation; wear, corrosion, and elastomer durability in engines; the effects of methanol and

ethanol fuel Ethanol fuel is ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, used as fuel. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline. The first production car running entirely on ethanol was t ...

on engines; and lubricants for air conditioners that use alternative refrigerants (other than Freon R12). Her work in these areas have been targeted towards: * obtaining the maximum useful life of engine oil * finding acceptable ways to use alternative energy sources * developing refrigerant systems that will not hurt the earth's ozone layer"

Awards and honors

Schwartz was named a fellow of the

Society of Automotive Engineers SAE International, formerly named the Society of Automotive Engineers, is a United States-based, globally active professional association and standards developing organization for engineering professionals in various industries. SAE Internatio ...

in 1999 and was elected to the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of ...

in 2000 "for contributions to lubrication engineering and for enriching the technical community through free-lance writing." She additionally received many industry awards: * General Motors Kettering Award (1988): Awarded for computer-based method that assesses engine oil degradation as a function of oil temperature and displays the remaining life of the oil for the vehicle * General Motors McCuen Award (1993) * Gold Award from the Engineering Society of Detroit (1989) * Wilbur Deutsch Memorial Award from the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (1987) * Colwell Award (1992) from the

* Distinguished Speaker Award (1995) from the

Personal life

She married her husband Ron Schwartz in 1957.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Shirley E. 1935 births 2016 deaths Women materials scientists and engineers Tribologists American materials scientists 20th-century American chemists General Motors people University of Michigan College of Literature, Science, and the Arts alumni Wayne State University alumni Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Scientists from Detroit People from Warren, Michigan Detroit Institute of Technology Deaths from dementia in Michigan Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in the United States People from Pleasant Ridge, Michigan Chemists from Michigan