Anna Sundström facts for kids
Anna Sundström, born as Anna Christina Persdotter, was a Swedish chemist. She was born on February 26, 1785, in Kymlinge, Spånga, and passed away in 1871. From 1808 to 1836, she worked as an assistant to the famous chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius. Many people consider Anna Sundström to be the first female chemist in Sweden.
About Anna Sundström
Anna Persdotter was the daughter of a farmer named Per Jansson. Later, she changed her last name to Sundström. When she was young, she moved to the capital city to work as a maid. In 1808, she started working as a housekeeper for Jöns Jacob Berzelius. He is known as one of the founders of modern chemistry.
Anna Sundström did much more than just housekeeping. She was also his assistant and helped him with his research. While working with Berzelius, she learned a lot about chemistry. She gained a huge amount of knowledge in the field. Berzelius himself once said that she knew all his equipment and their names so well that he could trust her to distill even strong acids like Hydrochloric acid.
Sundström also managed Berzelius's laboratory. She even supervised his students, who playfully called her "strict Anna."
She had to stop working for Berzelius in 1836 when he married Elisabeth Poppius. During the time Anna Sundström assisted him, Berzelius made many important discoveries. Here are some of them:
- Electrochemical reaction theory: This idea explains how an electric current can be sent between two substances to make their electrons change. This causes a chemical reaction.
- Electrochemical dualism: This was one of his most famous works. It looked at the voltaic pile, which was used in the first electric battery. This battery was invented by Humphry Davy in 1803. Berzelius studied how it could break down chemicals into two parts with opposite electrical charges.
- Stoichiometry in inorganic chemistry: This work helped set the atomic weights of elements. It also created formulas for all inorganic compounds. Later scientists gave this field the name stoichiometry. It is about measuring how much of each element is needed in a chemical reaction.
- Discovery of elements: Berzelius discovered several new elements. These include vanadium, lanthanum, didymium, erbium, terbium, and selenium.
Her Lasting Legacy
Anna Sundström's contributions are still remembered today. Every year, the inorganic chemistry section of the Swedish Chemical Society gives out an award. It is called the Anna Sundström Award. This award goes to the person who wrote the best Swedish PhD thesis in inorganic chemistry that year.
See also
In Spanish: Anna Sundström para niños
