Overview
Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards was born in Massachusetts, New England, United States on December 3, 1842. One of her first notable achievements was to be the first woman admitted to MIT. Shortly after she received her Bachelor of Science degree, but continued to study. Unfortunately she was denied a doctoral degree, which would have been another first, the basis of this rejection purely based on her gender. Despite this Ellen continued a working relationship with MIT, and though this she met her husband Robert Hallowell Richards, who was the chairman of the MIT Mine Engineering Department.
Ellen was a founder of American Association of University Women, an organization dedicated to pushing forward equality and education for females, connecting college graduates, uniting them to aid each other and promote shared opportunities. The American Association of University Women still thriving today.
She was considered a pragmatic feminist, possibly due to her views both clashed as well as agreed with other feminists of her time, as well as a founding ecofeminist. As well as, as earlier mentioned being the first woman to be admitted into MIT, she was MIT’s first female instructor, the first American woman to be accepted to any school of science and technology, and also the first American woman to earn a degree in chemistry.