Ellen Swallow Richards
Ellen H. Swallow Richards Ellen H. Richards From The Life of Ellen H. Richards by Caroline L. Hunt, 1912 Born Ellen Henrietta Swallow (Nellie) (1842-12-03)December 3, 1842 Dunstable, Massachusetts Died March 30, 1911(1911-03-30) (aged 68) Boston, Massachusetts Resting place Christ Church Cemetery Gardiner, Maine Residence 32 Eliot St., Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts Nationality American Alma mater Westford Academy Vassar College Massachusetts Institute of Technology Occupation Chemist Professor Known for Home economics Euthenics School meals Spouse(s) Robert Hallowell Richards (1844-1945) m.1875 Parents Fanny Gould Taylor Peter Swallow Signature Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (December 3, 1842 – March 30, 1911) was an industrial and environmental chemist in the United States during the 19th century. Her pioneering work in sanitary engineering and experimental research in domestic science laid a foundation for the new science of home economics. She was the founder of the home economics movement characterized by the application of science to the home, and the first to apply chemistry to the study of nutrition. Richards graduated from Westford Academy (second oldest secondary school in Massachusetts) in 1862. She was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she graduated in 1873 and later became its first female instructor. Mrs. Richards was the first woman in America accepted to any school of science and technology, and the first American woman to earn a degree in chemistry, which she earned from Vassar College in 1870. Richards was a pragmatic feminist, as well as a founding ecofeminist who believed that women's work within the home was a vital aspect of the economy.