Thora Margraff Plitt Hardy (31 July 1902 – 1 January 1993) was a US chemist born in Switzerland. She was educated at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, from where she graduated in 1925. Afterwards she worked as a New York City high school teacher from 1925 to 1929. She returned to academia at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

to start her PhD studies in 1932. Following completion of her PhD in 1935 she worked for a time as a botany instructor but saw little opportunity to progress. Subsequently she worked with the US Government, first with the

National Bureau of Standards The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical sci ...

and then at the Department of Agriculture (USDA) until she left in 1951. Her work focussed on plant microchemistry and the physiology and microscopic analysis of commercial furs. She assisted with Second World War efforts when she was requested to apply her studies of fur fibres for the armed forces. She wrote several books including ''Microscopic Methods Used in Identifying Commercial Fibres'' published in 1939. A cash award is made available at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

by an endowment established by Thora Hardy in memory of her husband, John I. Hardy. The award is bestowed on an undergraduate to recognize their academic achievements, the quality of their independent research projects, and their extracurricular contributions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, Thora 1902 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American chemists Barnard College alumni University of Chicago alumni