Ellen Swallow Richards was an applied scientist, sanitary chemist, and the founder of home economics . For twenty-seven years she was employed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she taught chemistry and developed methods for the analysis of air, water, and consumer products. Her work as a scientist and educator led to improvements in the home and opened the door to scientific professions for women.

Swallow was born on December 3, 1842, in Dunstable, Massachusetts. She was the only child of Peter Swallow, a teacher, farmer, and store keeper, and Fanny Gould Taylor, a teacher. She was educated at home by her parents until the family moved to Westford, Massachusetts, in 1859. There she attended Westford Massachusetts Academy, where she enrolled in mathematics, French, and Latin. In 1863 she graduated from the academy, and the family relocated to Littleton, Massachusetts.

Swallow worked at an assortment of jobs--storekeeping, tutoring, housecleaning, cooking, and...