GILBRETH, FRANK BUNKER; AND GILBRETH, LILLIAN EVELYN

born July 7, 1868, Fairfield, Maine, U.S. died June 14, 1924, Montclair, N.J. born May 24, 1878, Oakland, Calif. died Jan. 2, 1972, Phoenix, Ariz. Lillian Gilbreth ne Lillian Evelyn Moller husband and wife who developed the method of time-and-motion study as applied to the work habits of industrial employees to increase their efficiency and hence their output. At the time of their marriage on October 19, 1904, Frank Gilbreth was a contracting engineer in New York City and Lillian Moller had begun doctoral studies in literature, having received her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Lillian Gilbreth quickly adopted her husband's enthusiasm for workplace efficiency, and the two collaborated on applying the social sciences to industrial management, emphasizing the worker rather than nonhuman factors. Their method of time-and-motion study was created to systematically investigate and analyze the motions and the amount of time needed to carry out a specific task. Motion Study (1911) was the first important publication of their research. Frank Gilbreth formed a consulting business at Montclair, New Jersey, and lectured at various universities in the United States and elsewhere. He was also the first to apply motion-picture photography to the study of surgical operations. In 1915 Lillian Gilbreth earned a doctorate in psychology at Brown University. The Gilbreths soon published two more books, Fatigue Study (1916) and Applied Motion Study (1917). After her husband's death Lillian Gilbreth assumed the presidency of the firm and remained active in research, lecturing, and writing. She held teaching positions at Purdue University (193548), the Newark College of Engineering (194143), and the University of Wisconsin (1955). The Gilbreths' application of efficiency methods to their home was described by 2 of their 12 children, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr., and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, in their humorous popular reminiscences Cheaper by the Dozen (1949; filmed 1950) and Belles on Their Toes (1950; filmed 1952).