Cecil Ernest Eddy

Cecil Ernest Eddy (21 June 1900 – 27 June 1956) was an Australian radiologist and physicist who pioneered X-Ray techniques for studying minerals and treating cancer. He was the director of the Commonwealth X-ray and Radium Laboratory from 1935 until his death in 1956.

Biography Cecil Ernest Eddy was born in Albury, New South Wales, on 21 June 1900, the son of Alfred Eddy, a primary schoolteacher, and his wife Samuelina, née Evans. He was educated in various schools in Victoria, and in 1918 joined the Victorian Education Department as a junior schoolteacher at Wangaratta High School. In 1920 he entered the University of Melbourne, where he earned his BSc and DipEd degrees in 1923. That year he was granted leave to remain at the University of Melbourne and study physics under Professor T. H. Laby. He wrote his MSc thesis on X-ray spectroscopy.

In 1926, Eddy became a senior science master at Geelong College, but decided he preferred being a researcher. He accepted an offer from the University of Melbourne, paid back his bond to the Education Department, and continued his research into using X-rays for chemical analysis. He was awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to study at the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory under Sir Ernest Rutherford. Before departing for the UK he married Letitia Isabella Reid at the registry office in Collins Street, Melbourne, on 19 August 1927. He was also appointed a member of the Atomic Weapons Tests Safety Committee, which was set up to monitor the British nuclear tests at Maralinga. As such he viewed the Operation Mosaic tests in Western Australia in June 1956. where he died on 27 June 1956. The cause of death was recorded as lobar pneumonia with myocarditis and septicaemia. His remains were cremated. He was survived by his wife and two sons.