The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards

"In March 2009, in launching Women's History Month, U.S.President Barack Obama honored five "Women Taking the Lead to SaveOur Planet." His first tribute was to Ellen Swallow Richards(1842{́OCLCbr#80}?1911), who is known as the first woman accepted at ascientific institution and to graduate from the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology in 1873. Richards left behind a legacy ofpioneering new branches of science, championing efforts for acleaner environment, and opening doors for women to enterdisciplines previously believed to be the domain of men. Taking the reader from Richards childhood on aMassachusetts farm where she was home{́OCLCbr#80}{OCLCbr#93}schooled, to herinternationally renowned successes in the sciences, TheRemarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards:Pioneer inScience and Technology highlights the achievements of America'sfirst professional, degreed female scientist. Of her manyachievements, the book covers Richards research in waterstudies that led to the nation s first state water{́OCLCbr#80}{OCLCbr#93}qualitystandards and first modern sewage treatment plant; her developmentof the Normal Chlorine Map, the first map of water pollution in theUnited States; her food testing project that resulted in discoveryof countless contaminations and led to the first food and drugacts; coinage of the terms ecology and euthenics, hercareer at MIT as the only female instructor, and more. In a time when the field of science and technology was notfashionable for women prospects, Ellen Swallow Richards paved theway for women to become chemists, biologists, geologists,ecologists, nutritionists, dietitians, science teachers,professors, and home economists. MIT reports today that women makeup nearly half its student body and more than 200 in facultymembers. This biographical story of Ellen Swallow Richards isinvaluable for schools, colleges, and libraries searching for morebooks about women who broke academic and social barriers with theirdetermination and successes."--Page [4] of cover.