Ebba Lund facts for kids

Ebba Lund (born September 22, 1923 – died June 21, 1999) was an amazing Danish woman. She was a brave Resistance fighter during World War II. After the war, she became a skilled chemical engineer and a scientist who studied tiny living things, called a microbiologist. She also became a professor.

Early Life and Education

Ebba Lund was born in 1923 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She grew up in a traditional community. In 1942, she finished her studies at the Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole. This was just before she started her important work during the war.

Her Work in the Resistance

Ebba Lund began helping the Resistance in 1942. This was two years after Germany invaded Denmark. She was only 20 years old.

Publishing Secret Newspapers

At first, Ebba worked with her sister, Ulla. They helped publish secret newspapers that were against the German occupation. One of these was called Frit Danmark (Free Denmark). This newspaper was very popular and printed over six million copies by the end of the war. It helped share important news and messages with people.

Helping People Escape

After the Danish government fell, Ebba joined a group called Holger Danske. This group focused on stopping the Germans through secret actions. Ebba's main job was to organize fishing boats. These boats secretly took Jewish people to safety in Sweden. She used her connections on a nearby island to find many boats. She also convinced local landowners to pay for these dangerous trips.

Ebba even used her own house as a safe place for Jewish people to hide. They stayed there until they could be taken to Sweden.

The "Girl with the Red Cap"

During her rescue missions, Ebba became known as the "Girl with the Red Cap" or "Red Riding Hood." She wore a red hat to signal to the Jewish people who needed help. They knew to look for her so she could guide them to safety. The Resistance group also helped German soldiers who didn't want to fight anymore and other Resistance members. Ebba was very clever. She used her connections and even helped bribe some German soldiers. This helped her avoid being caught many times.

The Holger Danske group saved about 700 to 800 Jewish people in just a few weeks. Ebba herself helped with about 500 of these missions. She was lucky to avoid arrest when many of her friends were caught. She was in the hospital with blood poisoning at the time. In 1944, she became pregnant with her first child, Vita. After that, she stopped her Resistance work to focus on her family.

Life as a Scientist and Professor

After the war, Ebba Lund went back to her studies. She studied chemical engineering and immunology, which is the study of how our bodies fight off diseases.

Studying at University

She went to the Technical University of Denmark. She graduated as a chemical engineer, specializing in microbiology. In 1947, she started working at the University of Copenhagen at the Carlsberg Foundation Biological Institute.

Research on Polio and Other Diseases

Later, Ebba moved to Gothenburg, Sweden. She worked at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the University of Gothenburg. She did important research on the polio virus. At that time, there was a polio outbreak in Denmark. Her work helped doctors learn how to test for and understand polio better. In 1963, she earned her Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen for her work on polio. She also researched and supported vaccinations for diseases like foot-and-mouth disease, which affects animals.

First Female Professor

In 1966, Ebba became the head of a department at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen. In 1969, she made history by becoming the first female professor at that university. She taught about how diseases spread and other topics related to farming and animal health.

She did a lot of research there. She studied how viruses could be removed from wastewater and seawater. She also looked into a parasite called toxoplasm. Ebba also stressed how important it was to understand diseases that can pass from animals to humans.

Helping Mink Breeders

Ebba worked with Danish fur breeders. She studied diseases that affected mink puppies. With their help, she developed the first successful test to find a common mink disease called plasmacytosis. This helped breeders know which puppies were likely to get sick and which ones to vaccinate.

Ebba Lund was a very busy scientist. She wrote 124 scientific papers and two textbooks. She also wrote books about water pollution and gene splicing.

Organizations and Awards

Ebba Lund was involved in many important groups.

Working with Global Organizations

In 1968, she worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) to study the effects of water pollution. She also worked with the European Commission to help control diseases like swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease.

Leadership Roles

She was a leader in many Danish scientific and environmental groups. For example, she was the chairman of the Danish Society of Pathology and an active member of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation. She was also a member of the Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Society of Sciences. From 1980 to 1990, she was on the board of the Carlsberg Foundation. She also led the Gene Technology Council.

Special Honors

Ebba Lund received several awards for her amazing work. In 1975, she became a Knight of the Dannebrog, a special honor in Denmark. In 1985, she received the Ebbe Muncks Award for her brave service in the Resistance during the war. In 1994, she shared her wartime stories in an interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Personal Life

Ebba Lund had three children: Vita (born 1945), Susanne (born 1948), and Anders (born 1951). She was married twice. Her first marriage was to Professor Soren Lovtrup in 1944. They later divorced. In 1978, she married Robert Berridge Dean, who worked for the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Ebba Lund passed away in Copenhagen on June 21, 1999.