Elizabeth MacGregor Hardy was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada to parents Thomas Woodburne Hardy and Margaret Ada (Graham) Hardy. Hardy attended McGill University and graduated with a Bachelor in Science in 1938. In 1939, Hardy obtained a Master of Arts degree from Bryn Mawr College. She went on to earn a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1942 at Bryn Mawr College, working in the labs of Arthur C. Cope.
Hardy and Evelyn Hancock, another graduate student, coauthored nearly half of Cope's papers from Bryn Mawr.
Hardy went on to work for American Cyanamid.