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Quick Facts
- NAME: Ellen Richards
- OCCUPATION: Scientist
- BIRTH DATE: December 03, 1842
- DEATH DATE: March 30, 1911
- EDUCATION: Vassar College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Dunstable, Massachusetts
- PLACE OF DEATH: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
- Maiden Name: Ellen Swallow
Best Known For
Chemist, sanitation engineer, and home economist Ellen Richards opened scientific education and professions to women when she started teaching at MIT in 1884.
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Play NowEllen Richards. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:12, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351.
Ellen Richards. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351 [Accessed 21 May 2013].
"Ellen Richards." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 11:12 http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351.
"Ellen Richards," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351 [accessed May 21, 2013].
"Ellen Richards," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351 (accessed May 21, 2013).
Ellen Richards [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351.
Ellen Richards, http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351 (last visited May 21, 2013).
Ellen Richards. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/ellen-richards-9457351. Accessed May 21, 2013.
Synopsis
Ellen Swallow Richards graduated from Vassar College in 1870, then became one of the first women admitted to MIT, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in 1873. Her focus was on chemistry, sanitary engineering, and home economics. She blazed a trail for women in the sciences by establishing a Woman's Laboratory at MIT and eventually joining the school's regular faculty.
Profile
Chemist, sanitation engineer, educator, and home economist. Born on December 3, 1842, in Dunstable, Massachusetts. Ellen Swallow Richards was a pioneer in the field of home economics and helped open the door for women to pursue science education and careers. She graduated from Vassar in 1870. Richards then became one of the first women admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. After graduating in 1873 with a bachelor of science degree, Richards tried to obtain a doctorate, but the school refused to allow it. In 1876 she established and taught at the Woman's Laboratory at MIT. She also set up a program in the Boston public schools to prepare young women for education in the sciences.
Finally admitted to the regular MIT faculty when women were admitted to regular classes, Ellen Swallow Richards taught sanitary chemistry there from 1884 to 1911. After conducting a pioneer survey of Massachusetts' inland waterways from 1878 to 1890, she established the first program in sanitary engineering at MIT.
In her later years Ellen Swallow Richards also became a leader in establishing a scientific basis for home economics, with such projects as her studies in the adulteration of groceries and the arsenic content in wallpaper and fabrics, as well as her promotion of good nutrition. She conceived and directed the Lake Placid Conference on Home Economics (1899??1908), which coined the term home economics, and developed standards for training professionals.
Ellen Swallow Richards died of heart disease in 1911. Although she published various works, including The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning (1882) and Food Materials and Their Adulteration (1885), her major claim to fame now rests on her having opened up scientific education and professions to women. She died in 1911.
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