Her passion for understanding forces of nature started early. Her father confirms that when she was two or three years old, she started talking about wanting to fly. Soon after that, she started making wings from objects she found in the woods, and experimenting with umbrellas on steep hills.
Four years later, on vacation in Cyprus, Britt Elin begged her parents to let her try SCUBA diving. They consented, but hesitated when she wanted to try skydiving at 16. Finally she coaxed a consenting signature out of them. “After that, I spent every summer jumping with a team and absolutely loved it. It’s kind of like dancing in the air.” Eventually they competed in the Norwegian Nationals in 2002, and took 4th place. A broken rib was the only thing that stalled her jumping.
Her obsession with momentum led her eventually to a Master’s degree in Applied Physics at NTNU (the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim), where her thesis involved shooting projectiles at aluminium plates. While working out that problem, Britt Elin met a previous Hydro trainee. “She urged me to apply for a position, because it was such a great opportunity to get cross-trained. With 760 applicants for 18 jobs, I didn’t know if I’d get the position, but I had to try.”
During her first year, she worked at the Rheinwerk casthouse in Germany and Commercial Products in Oslo before starting full time as a Research Scientist in Recycling.
She currently works on four different projects, primarily dedicated to maximizing aluminium recycling opportunities.
“Hydro has high ambitions in recycling. Melting post-consumed aluminium only requires about 5% of the energy needed to produce the aluminium through electrolysis, so increasing the amount of recycling in Hydro will help protect the environment.”
If there’s one person who would move heaven and earth to make that a reality, you’ve just met her.
