October 5, 1899 - Birth of Elda Emma Anderson, the first to prepare a sample of pure uranium-235 in the laboratory

In 1924 she earned a master of arts degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin. For three years she taught at Estherville Junior College in Iowa, where she was dean of physics, chemistry, and mathematics.

In 1929, she became a professor of physics at Milwaukee-Downer College and succeeded in becoming head of her department in 1934.

In 1941, she completed her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin and left her position as director to work in the Office of Scientific Research and Development of the Manhattan Project at Princeton University. Shortly thereafter, she was hired to continue her work at the Los Alamos Laboratory. She studied the basic parameters of fission, including delays due to neutron absorption and emission. Among her many achievements, she prepared the first sample of pure uranium-235 in the laboratory.

After the war (1947), he left Los Alamos and returned to his post at Milwaukee-Downer College. However, his interests had changed; he now wanted to research the effects of radiation on health. So, in 1949, she left teaching and began a career in the Health Physics Division of the newly created (only five years earlier) Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, becoming the first director of education and training.

She worked with Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, to create a master's degree in health physics and trained military personnel, civil servants, university professors, and many others who are now experts in this area.

He organised the first international course in his field in Stockholm in 1955 and similar courses in Belgium (1957) and India (1958). She supported the creation of the Health Physics Society in 1955, serving as president from 1959-1960.

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