Ellen Richards

Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (1842-1911) was a prominent American chemist best known for pioneering domestic science or home economics. She also undertook the first water safety tests, ran experimental kitchens, and wrote extensively on ventilation, water, nutrition, and other public health topics. She was the first woman to receive a degree from MIT, where she ran the Women's Laboratory for many years as well as the Sanitation Laboratory. Her work culminated in euthenics, or the science of the environment for the improvement of humanity, a word she coined to couteract eugenics, which emphasized genetic factors in human improvement.