Ingrid Monica Bruce (1940–2012) was a Swedish

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 ...

who is remembered for her contributions to the Swedish defence sector, in particular for coordinating the development of the

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

system known as BAMSE in the 1990s. Bruce was the first woman to chair the trade union Sveriges Civilingenjörsförbund (CF), in the 1980s, while in the 1990s she headed the Swedish committee under the European organization of civil engineers

FEANI FEANI (Fédération Européenne d'Associations Nationales d'Ingénieurs / European Federation of National Engineering Associations) is a federation of national professional bodies representing engineering in European countries. Founded in 1951, i ...

Biography

Born and raised in

Säffle Säffle () is a locality and the seat of Säffle Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden with 9,150 inhabitants in 2016. In 1951 the town of Säffle was officially awarded City status, the last place for this to occur in Sweden. This was abolished ...

, Ingrid Monica Bruce was the daughter of the civil engineer Karl Georg Bruce (1911–1999) and Ellen Ingrid née Hederén (1908–2006). The second of the family's seven children, she graduated from high school in 1958. Following in her father's footsteps, she was one of only three women when she started studying in the electronics department of Chalmers Technical College in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. She graduated with her master's degree in civil engineering in 1964 and moved to Stockholm. In 1968, Bruce was employed by the Royal Swedish Air Force Administration where she worked on robotic guidance. The following year she moved to the consultancy TUAB where she was involved in navigation technology until she moved back to the Air Force in 1993. There she became project leader of the BAMSE surface-to-air missile system. She was promoted to head the weapons centre in 1998 where she served until her retirement in 2003. On the trade union front, while at TUAB she was elected deputy in the local union. In 1975, she became a member of the CF commission for the labour market. After becoming a board member in 1982, she became CF's chair from 1985 to 1989, the first woman to do so. While there, she met Gerhard Raunio, also an engineer and board member; they married in 1991. Through her union activities, she strove to encourage women to gain qualifications in science and technology. From 1985, she was active in

, the European organization for civil engineers. In addition to the heading the Swedish committee, she was the organization's vice-president from 1991 to 1994. Ingrid Bruce died on 17 November 2012 and is buried in Stockholm.

Biography

References

Further reading