Journalist and broadcaster Zoe Kleinman chooses Hertha Ayrton (1854–1923) as her history hero
In profile
Hertha Ayrton was an electrical engineer, mathematician, inventor, physicist and suffragette. Born Phoebe Marks in Portsmouth, she was the third child of a Polish-Jewish watchmaker from tsarist Poland and his wife. After passing the mathematical tripos at Cambridge University she went on to register 26 patents, and her work in the field of electrical engineering was recognised internationally. She died from blood poisoning, as a result of an insect bite, aged 69.
When did you first hear about Ayrton?
The same names, such as Ada Lovelace, so often crop up in discussions about women who have excelled in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), particularly in a historical context. I began seeking out similarly inspirational figures and Hertha’s story instantly resonated with me.
What kind of woman was she?
Hertha was one of eight children born to a watchmaker father and a seamstress in Portsea. But her father died when she was young, so for a while she helped her mother look after her seven siblings. When she was nine she left her family to live with her aunt, and it was there that her cousins introduced her to science and maths – a life-changing moment. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she was also a bit of a rebel. As a woman the odds were stacked against her – it’s not surprising she became a suffragette.
What made her a hero?
Her absolute fearlessness and determination. She was repeatedly snubbed academically as a result of her gender, and when she studied maths at Cambridge they would not give her a degree because she was a woman. Similarly, she was not allowed to present a paper to the Royal Society because of her sex, and they got a man to read it out instead. Can you believe that? It must have been extraordinarily difficult for a woman to punch through at that time, though in truth it’s still hard today.
What was Ayrton’s finest hour?
Solving a problem that nobody else had managed to figure out. Electric arc lighting was widely used for public lighting in the late 19th century, but its tendency to flicker and hiss was a problem. She wrote a series of articles, explaining that this was the result of oxygen coming into contact with the carbon rods used to create the arc. Some years later, she also designed a hand-operated fan, the Ayrton Fan, to get rid of poisonous gases in the British trenches during the First World War. Initially it was rejected but it ended up being issued to thousands of troops. She deserves to be much better known; if she had been a man there would no doubt be a statue of her somewhere.
Can you see any parallels between her life and your own?
Yes, I do see a bit of myself in her. Like her, I’ve had to stand my professional ground throughout my career. Secondly, we’re from similar backgrounds. And thirdly, there’s a street named after her close to where I first met my husband! I’m proud to be the BBC’s first technology editor but when I’m at a tech conference men still sometimes ask me: “Who’s looking after your children?” I think we’d have bonded and rolled our eyes.
What would you say to Ayrton if you could meet her now?
I’d love to know what she thought of AI and modern computing – I think she’d probably be an AI expert today.
Zoe Kleinman is a journalist and television presenter who has served as the BBC's technology editor since September 2021
This article was first published in the June 2026 issue of HistoryExtra Magazine
Authors
York Membery is a regular contributor to BBC History Magazine, the Daily Mail and Sunday Times among other publications. York, who lives in London, worked on the Mirror, Express and Times before turning freelance. He studied history at Cardiff University and the Institute of Historical Research, and has a History PhD from Maastricht University.