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
Parent(s)	Fanny Gould Taylor Peter Swallow
Signature

Ellen Swallow Richards Residence
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Location	32 Eliot St., Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°18′41.5″N 71°7′3.5″W / 42.311528°N 71.117639°W / 42.311528; -71.117639Coordinates: 42°18′41.5″N 71°7′3.5″W / 42.311528°N 71.117639°W / 42.311528; -71.117639
Area	0.2 acres (0.081 ha)
Architectural style	Italianate
NRHP Reference #	92001874
Added to NRHP	March 31, 1992

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. 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 obtain 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.

Richards was born in Dunstable, Massachusetts. She was the only child of Peter Swallow (b. June 27, 1813, Dunstable; d. March 1871, Littleton, Massachusetts) and Fanny Gould Taylor (b. April 9, 1817, New Ipswich, New Hampshire), both of whom came from established families of modest means and were believers in the value of education.

Swallow was home-schooled in her early years. In 1859 the family moved to Westford and she attended Westford Academy. Studies at the academy included mathematics, composition, and Latin, similar to other New England academies of the time. Swallow's Latin proficiency allowed her to study French and German, a rare language north of New York. Because of her language skills she was much in demand as a tutor, and the income earned doing this made it possible for Swallow to further her studies.