Ellen Swallow Richards
Ellen
Swallow Richards (1842-1911) was the first
woman admitted to MIT, receiving her S.B. degree in 1873 (the first
graduating class of MIT was 1868). The title of her thesis
(pdf file) was "Notes on Some Sulpharsenites and Sulphantimonites from
Colorado."
In 1875
she appealed to the Women's Education Association of Boston for help
in establishing a laboratory at MIT for the instruction of women in
chemistry. The Women's Laboratory
opened in 1876 with Professor John M. Ordway in charge, assisted by
Richards. She held the position of instructor in chemistry and mineralogy
in the Women's Laboratory until it closed in 1883. From 1884 to her
death in 1911, Richards was instructor in sanitary chemistry at MIT.
Ellen
Swallow Richards and MIT | The Women's
Laboratory | World's Fair - Rumford Kitchen
| Tributes after her death | Publications
by and about Ellen Swallow Richards
| Collection on Ellen Swallow Richards (MC 659 [PDF]) |