Women in Chemistry: Ellen Swallow Richards


Ellen Swallow Richards
If you're confident that your tap water is safe to drink and your groceries are safe to eat, your confidence rests on the work of Ellen Swallow Richards. In 1887 Richards conducted an enormous, pioneering survey of drinking water in Massachusetts, which led to the establishment of water-quality standards and modern sewage treatment plants. Richards then pursued chemical studies to determine the ingredients in groceries, along with their quality, which eventually led to state food and drug standards. Richards was the first woman to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she spent her entire career. She founded a women's chemistry laboratory at MIT and established the field of "home economics," which used science to improve sanitation in people's homes.		Courtesy MIT Museum.
About Her Life Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911) was the daughter of an old but relatively poor New England family. By the time she reached her mid-20s, and after years of teaching, tutoring, and cleaning houses, she had earned enough money to attend college. She entered Vassar College, then a women's college, in 1868 as a special student and graduated two years later. At Vassar she was attracted to astronomy and chemistry. After graduating she applied for positions with various industrial chemists, but was turned down in all cases. At the suggestion of one of these chemists, she applied and was accepted as a special student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—the first woman in America to be accepted by a scientific school. Three years later she received a second bachelor's degree, a B.S. from MIT, as well as a master's degree from Vassar. In 1875 she married Robert Hallowell Richards, chairman of MIT's mining engineering department. Supported in her ambitions by her husband, Richards volunteered her services to further women's scientific education at MIT. Through her efforts, the Women's Laboratory was established in 1876, and in 1879 she was recognized as an assistant instructor—without pay—of chemical analysis, industrial chemistry, mineralogy, and applied biology. In 1883 MIT opened the nation's first laboratory of sanitary chemistry, and Richards was appointed as an instructor. In 1887 she and her assistants performed a survey of the quality of the inland bodies of water in Massachusetts. The scale of the survey was unprecedented: it led to the first state water-quality standards in the nation and the first modern municipal sewage treatment plant. From 1887 to 1897 Richards served as official water analyst for the State Board of Health while continuing as an instructor at MIT—the rank she held at her death. Richards was very concerned to apply scientific principles to domestic topics—good nutrition, pure foods, proper clothing, physical fitness, sanitation, and efficient practices that would allow women more time for pursuits other than cooking and cleaning. She campaigned tirelessly for the new discipline of home economics. Growing out of several summer conferences, the American Home Economics Association was formed in 1908 with Richards as its first president. (Adapted from: Bowden, Mary Ellen. Chemical Achievers: The Human Face of the Chemical Sciences. Philadelphia: Chemical Heritage Foundation, 1997.) For Further Reading on the Web Ellen Swallow Richards — from Chemical Achievers: The Human Face of the Chemical Sciences, a Chemical Heritage Foundation Web site. Ellen Swallow Richards — an in-depth site from the MIT Institute Archives and Special Collections.

Credits | Sponsor | Home