Opening doors wide for women, pioneer chemist Ellen Richards gave new meaning to the word "housekeeping," a meaning that stretched far beyond the simple walls of home. She was the first woman student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the few women to be made a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a major influence in the field of Home Economics.

In an era when women were expected to play a restricted role, Ellen's desire for intellectual freedom was revolutionary. She earned money for college by sewing and nursing and almost starving in the process. At Vassar College, the world of science opened before her, and she was inspired by such great teachers as Maria Mitchell, America's first woman astronomer.

Ellen was the first woman to study at MIT and there began her lifetime work of applying the benefits of chemistry to the home. Not once did she forget the hard life she had known in her girlhood: the weary hours of clerking in her father's store, keeping house for her ailing mother, snatching desperately at her studies in odd moments. She had found the work she loved, and being a woman wasn't going to keep her from it.

When she became Mrs. Richards, Ellen was one of the first women to combine homemaking with a career. In that rare role, she came to understand the problems and needs of the American housewife better than anyone else.

When she organized the American Home Economics Association and became its first president, she truly realized her life-long ambition. At last, the fruits of modern science were being utilized to improve home life. 

In this fascinating biography, the author not only penetrates Ellen Richards' scientific world, but also shows us the unconquerable spirit of a brave and daring woman who believed that no one should be hampered by traditions of the past.

From the dust jacket

When asked why she wrote about Ellen Richards, Mrs. Douty said: "I am an inveterate plaque reader, and years ago I happened to be 'touristing' through MIT when I saw the plaque about America's first woman chemist. Since I had been planning to go into science myself and was tremendously interested in women scientists, my interest was aroused. Any woman who was able to teach a new science in a male scientific institution way back in the 1870's and who was also honored as a leader in the field of public health and a pioneer in home economics must, I thought, have been truly remarkable. So I began reading and thinking about Ellen, and this biography was the result."

Author info from the book