Joan Mary Anderson was born in 1932 in Queenstown, New Zealand. Her father was a country doctor. Her mother died, after a long illness, when Anderson was eight.
Much to the disappointment of her father, who had wanted her to become a doctor, she studied organic chemistry at the University of Otago.
At the times, degrees were issued by the University of New Zealand, and she obtained a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science 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, she found out that her New Zealand postgraduate degree was not recognised, which denied her access to the library, research facilities, and health insurance. 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 (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) made to her four years earlier by John Falk of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Plant Industry.
She was the first to show that the photosynthetic mechanism comprises two fundamental components: photosystem I and photosytem World War II Anderson was an Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University.
She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Umeå University in 1998. She was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001.
January Anderson died on 28 August 2015. Her funeral was held at Street John the Baptist Church, Reid, Canberra.
To overcome this problem, she enrolled for a Doctor of Philosophy, which she studied towards at the University of California Berkeley College of Chemistry (1956–1959) under the supervision of Melvin Calvin. Calvin would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1961. She received many honors and awards for her work, including election as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 1987, and as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1996.
Royal Society.
