Leader of the Month
Ellen H. Swallow Richards
Ellen H. Swallow Richards (1842-1911) was a 19th century American female chemist and is considered a founder of modern day Family and Consumer Sciences. Richards was the first woman in America to be accepted by a scientific school - the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon receiving her B.S. from M.I.T., Richards became an instructor at the nation's first laboratory of sanitary chemistry. Her work at the laboratory led Richards to publish The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning: A Manual for Housekeepers in 1882. Richards campaigned for the creation of a new field named home economics and served as the first president of the American Home Economics Association upon its creation in 1908. |
Image and Information Courtesy of the Chemistry Heritage Foundation
|