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National Museum of Nuclear Science & History

Elizabeth Painter

Associate BiologistChicago, IL

Manhattan Project VeteranScientistWoman Scientist

Elizabeth Painter (later Elizabeth Painter Marcus) was an associate biologist in the Health Division at the University of Chicago Metallurgical Laboratory.

The recipient of a doctorate in physiology from the University of Maryland, Painter taught physiology and chemistry at Maryland and at Columbia University. In 1943, she joined the Manhattan Project as a research associate and inhalation toxicologist. She studied the effects of fission products on laboratory animals and conducted experiments on the effects of ionizing radiation on animals.

After the war, Painter was a professor of physiology, nutrition, and chemistry at the University of Chicago Medical School.

Elizabeth Painter’s Timeline
1909 Born in New Freedom, Pennsylvania.

1930 Received an A.B. from Goucher College.

1938 Received a Ph.D. in Physiology from the University of Maryland.

19431945 Worked as an associate biologist at the University of Chicago Met Lab, studying the effects of fission products and radiation on animals.

1997 Dec 25th Died in Riverside, Illinois.

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