Anna Sundström


Anna Sundström, born as Anna Christina Persdotter,, was a Swedish chemist. She was the assistant of the chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius from 1808 to 1836. Anna Sundström has been referred to as the first female chemist in Sweden.

Biography

Anna Persdotter was the daughter of the farmer Per Jansson, and later took the name Sundström. Early on, she moved to the capital to serve as a maid, and was in 1808 employed as the housekeeper of Jöns Jacob Berzelius, who was regarded as one of the fathers of modern chemistry. She acted effectively as his assistant and co worker during his research. During her work she was educated in chemistry and acquired a vast knowledge within it. Berzelius stated : "She is used to all my equipment and their names to such a degree that I could without hesitation make her distill Hydrochloric acid."
Sundström also administrated his laboratory as well as supervised his students, who affectionally called her "strict Anna".
She was forced to end her employment when Berzelius married Elisabeth Poppius in 1836. Here is some of the work that was done by Berzelius during the period in which Sundstrom was assisting him.
Every year the Swedish Chemical Society's division of inorganic chemistry selects the best Swedish PhD-thesis in inorganic chemistry and presents the author with the Anna Sundström Award.