Helen Blair Bartlett

Helen Blair Bartlett (born December 14, 1901, Sharpsville, Pennsylvania; died August 25, 1969) was an American geologist, best known for her contribution to the design of spark plug insulators. Helen Blair Bartlett received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1927 in geology from the Ohio Wesleyan University. Following up her degree in Geology, Helen Bartlett attended the Ohio State University granting her a PhD degree in Mineralogy in 1931. Upon receiving her PhD, Dr. Bartlett joined the AC Ceramic Research Department as a mineralogist-geologist, where she worked until her retirement in 1966. Dr. Bartlett was a member of the Mineralogical Society of America, as well as a fellow of the American Ceramic Society, being one of the only few female members at the time. She was also a member of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Helen Blair Bartlett attended Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in geology in 1927, at the age of 27. In 1931 she earned a PhD at Ohio State University.

Bartlett was a geologist who was interested in spark plugs, and contributed greatly to the motor vehicle world, being the first to invent insulating materials for spark plugs using alumina ceramics. When spark plug insulators were first invented, they were made of porcelain and molded on a potter's wheel, and thus, were prone to break easily. She has been credited to have discovered that high alumina metls, containing approximately 0.35 percent lithium oxide precipitated zeta alumina, and over the course of her career, gained 7 patents in connection with her work. Bartlett left her position at General Motors Corporation to work on The Manhattan Project, a research project for nuclear weapons at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but later returned. Dr. Bartlett's essential work on spark plugs improved the overall capabilities of motor vehicles. Alumina insulator material allows plugs to handle high heat and voltage within the spark plug, enabling vehicles to operate in a more clean and, in turn, more efficient manner. By encasing the spark plugs, Dr. Bartlett had made possible for them to become quite durable. Prior to the design changes, spark plugs would get covered in byproduct spewed by the engine. You would have to manually clean them every 70 to 150 kilometers for the vehicle to function effectively.

Even in retirement, she continued to teach mineralogy to a small group of young students.