Born October 5, 1899

Green Lake, Wisconsin

Died April 17, 1961

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Physicist

"Elda Emma Anderson not only worked on the atomic bomb, but was also a pioneer in the field of Health Physics, the study of the effects of radiation on human health."
—Cited from the Penn State University College of Engineering Web site

Elda Anderson was a member of the U.S. team of scientists who developed the atomic bomb during World War II (1939–45). She was a physicist with the Manhattan Project and was present at the Trinity Event, which was the first atomic explosion that took place in the New Mexico desert in 1945.

Following the war Anderson became an internationally recognized authority on radiation protection and health physics. In 1955 she was a founding member of the Health Physics Society that sought independent status for the new science. In 1960 she helped formally establish the American Board...