Joan Mary "Jan" Anderson FAA FRS (13 May 1932 – 28 August 2015) was a New Zealand scientist who worked in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia, distinguished by her investigation of

photosynthesis Photosynthesis ( ) is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabo ...

Life

Joan Mary Anderson was born in 1932 in Queenstown, New Zealand. Her father Dr Bill Anderson was a country doctor. Her mother died, after a long illness, when Anderson was eight. After high school, Anderson decided to study organic chemistry at the

University of Otago The University of Otago () is a public university, public research university, research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in ...

. At the time, degrees were issued by the

University of New Zealand A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, and she obtained a BSc and MSc with first class honours. She obtained a scholarship, the King George V Memorial Fellowship for New Zealand, that allowed her to undertake postgraduate studies in the United States for one year. When she arrived at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, she found that her New Zealand postgraduate degree was not recognised, which denied her access to the library, research facilities, and health insurance. To overcome this problem, she enrolled for a PhD, which she studied towards at the UC Berkeley College of Chemistry (1956–59) under the supervision of Melvin Calvin; Calvin received the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

in 1961. She then taught at Wellington Girls' High School under a bond, but broke this arrangement to take up a job offer with the

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

(CSIRO) made to her four years earlier by John Falk of CSIRO Plant Industry. She was the first to show that the photosynthetic mechanism comprises two fundamental components: photosystem I and photosystem II. Anderson was an adjunct professor at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

. Anderson died on 28 August 2015. Her funeral was held at St John the Baptist Church, Reid, Canberra.

Awards and honors

She received many honors and awards for her work, including the Lemberg Medal in 1983, election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1987, and as a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1996.Horton, Peter; Soon Chow, Wah; Barret, Christopher (2018). "Joan Mary Anderson. 12 May 1932—28 August 2015". ''

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society The ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'' is an academic journal on the history of science published annually by the Royal Society. It publishes obituaries of Fellows of the Royal Society. It was established in 1932 as ''Obi ...

''
doi.org/10.1098/rsbm.2018.0006
She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Umeå University in 1998. She was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

in 2001. In 2017, she was selected as one of the Royal Society of New Zealand's " 150 women in 150 words".

References

External links

Resources from the Australian National Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Jan 1932 births 2015 deaths 20th-century British women scientists Academic staff of the Australian National University Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science Female fellows of the Royal Society New Zealand biologists People from Queenstown, New Zealand Scientists from Canberra University of Otago alumni UC Berkeley College of Chemistry alumni Umeå University alumni