Housewives and Scientists

The main focus of this chapter is Ellen Swallow Richards, an American who, in 1870, became the first woman to enroll at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Boston. As an instructor in Sanitary chemistry at that institution, she had a remarkable and diverse scientific career, despite not obtaining a doctoral degree. Richards advocated for the recognition of “domestic science” as a fully-fledged scientific discipline, independent of its reliance on chemistry, physics, and biology. This discipline transitioned from secondary school curricula to becoming a college degree, particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries during the early twentieth century. In the United Kingdom, a debate ensued between those in favor of teaching science within a domestic context and those advocating for standalone science education.