Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards (December 3, 1842 – March 30, 1911) was the foremost female industrial

Industry

Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...

 and environmental chemist in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in the 19th century, pioneering the field of home economics

Home Economics

Home economics is the profession and field of study that deals with the economics and management of the home and community...

. Richards graduated from Westford Academy (2nd oldest secondary school in Massachusetts). She was the first woman admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...

 and its first female instructor, the first woman in America accepted to any school of science and technology, and the first American woman to earn a degree in chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

.

Richards was a "pragmatic" feminist, as well as a founding "ecofeminist" who believed that women's work within the home was a vital aspect of the economy.
Born (to Fanny Taylor and Peter Swallow) to an old Dunstable, Massachusetts

Dunstable, Massachusetts

Dunstable is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,179 at the 2010 census.-Etymology:Dunstable was named after its sister town Dunstable, UK....

 family of modest means which prized education, she was the first woman admitted to MIT.