The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards: Pioneer in Science and Technology

Epilogue

In March 2009, in the launching of Women’s History Month, President Barack Obama honored five “Women Taking the Lead to Save Our Planet.” His first tribute was to Ellen Swallow Richards. “Ellen Swallow Richards is known to have been the first woman in the United States to be accepted at a scientific school. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1873 and went on to become a prominent chemist. In 1887, she conducted a survey of water quality in Massachusetts. This study, the first of its kind in America, led to the Nation’s first state water-quality standards.”