Eighty years ago this month, these two young women were learning the finer points of voltage indicators under the tutelage of this Purdue University engineering professor. They were “Radio Engineering Cadettes,” and were paid trainees at RCA.

As you can read here, 86 women from 17 states began the 44 week program in 1943. Because of wartime labor shortages, they were the first women to attend the engineering school.  The picture above appeared in the July 1943 issue of Radio Retailing.