Eleanor (Hauk) Pomerance was a technician and draftswoman (technical artist) at the University of California, Berkeley and Clinton Laboratories in Oak Ridge, TN. She was married to Herbert Pomerance, a research associate at Oak Ridge.
In 1942, Pomerance joined the University of California, Berkeley’s Radiation Laboratory. At the laboratory, she worked on the calutron for enriching uranium isotopes. Three years later, Pomerance transferred to related technician work at Oak Ridge’s Y-12 plant.
Eleanor Hauk grew up in Berkeley, California. In high school, she had taken classes in engineering drawing. She continued her studies in art at Sacramento Junior College for two years. Afterward, she studied geology and anthropology at San Francisco Junior College.
Following her time in college, she worked at the Alameda Naval Air Station. She was the only woman in the engineering-design section for two years. After World War II ended, she worked at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).
In terms of artistic work, one of her most visible designs is the now-standard warning and hazard label for radioactivity. The design features a three-bladed fan colored in magenta on a yellow background. She developed the design with a noncommissioned Army officer, who was working as a chemical engineer.