Elin Jacobsson (1886 – 1978), was one of the first two women to graduate from a Swedish educational program as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

Early life

Elin Jacobsson was born on 9 January 1886 in Adolf Fredrik parish in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

to August Leonard Jacobsson (born 1850), a

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

at the General Staff Lithographic Institute, and Josefina Wilhelmina Bernhardina Jacobsson, nee Ammilon, born (1849). She had two brothers.

Education

Jacobsson entered the Technical School in Stockholm (now called

Konstfack Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design, is a university college for higher education in the area of art, crafts and design in Stockholm, Sweden. History Konstfack has had several different names since it was founded in 1844 by the eth ...

) which had established a department for "female disciples" nearly five decades earlier in 1859. Women on this course of study were allowed to pursue "various types of education in, among other things, construction technology, mechanical engineering, drawing technology and in art industrial occupations." After completing their studies as architectural draftsmen in the women's department in the school, Elin Jacobsson and her classmate Anna Sandstedt (born 1885) transferred to the Construction Vocational School department. That programme provided a three-year training course for students hoping to become supervisors in the construction industry. After having to get special permission from the school's board because they were women, the two students completed the mandatory six-month masonry internship, which was done in the "utmost secrecy" in the basement. In 1907, Elin Jacobsson and Anna Sandstedt graduated as "structural engineers," the first women to do so. The news was published in the women's magazine '' Idun''.

Career

In the 1910 census, Jacobsson is listed as a drawing assistant, and the next year, on 18 February 1911, she received an employment offer from architect Axel Brunskog in

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

. While details remain unknown about the lives of either woman in later years, Elin Jacobsson was reported to have worked as a draftsman and structural engineer at an architectural and engineering office.

Private life

Elin Jacobsson married Bror Gustaf Johansson in 1913 and took his last name as her own. He died in 1954. She died on 14 July 1978 in Hedvig Eleonora parish in Stockholm and is buried in her family's grave at the Northern Cemetery in

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

in Stockholm County.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobsson, Elin 1886 births 1978 deaths Swedish women engineers Engineers from Stockholm Swedish engineers 20th-century Swedish engineers 20th-century Swedish architects 20th-century Swedish women engineers 19th-century Swedish women scientists