Ellen Swallow Richards

Ellen Swallow Richards (1842–1911), pioneering American chemist, STEM trailblazer, & founder of the American Home Economics Society, lived in Jamaica Plain with her husband, Robert Richards.

The Baker Chocolate Company, founded in the 1780s, played a significant role in Dorchester’s economy and employed many women. It’s now a historic luxury apartment complex.

Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911), founder of home economics, lived here. First woman graduate and professor at M.I.T., she revolutionized sanitation and scientific education for women.

Frances Stern (1873-1947), a pioneering nutritionist, focused on the links between nutrition, health, and industrial work. The Frances Stern Nutrition Center is at Tufts Medical Center.

The State House honors abolitionists Angelina and Sarah Grimké, reformer Dorothea Dix, and other pioneers featured in the Notable Women of Boston mural.

Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911), the first woman to study at MIT, pioneered sanitary engineering and home economics, establishing the Woman’s Laboratory in 1875.