Ellen Swallow Richards was a big part of the establishment of home economics as a field.  But well before that, she broke a lot of ground and was often way ahead of her time.

Research:

• Bettex, Morgan. “A life filled with firsts.” MIT News. 1/26/2011. https://news.mit.edu/2011/timeline-richards-0126
• Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Ellen Swallow Richards". Encyclopedia Britannica, 29 Nov. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ellen-Swallow-Richards. Accessed 8 February 2023.
• Chapman, Sasha. “The Woman Who Gave Us the Science of Normal Life.” Nautilus. 3/28/2017. https://nautil.us/the-woman-who-gave-us-the-science-of-normal-life-236534/
• Daniels, Elizabeth A. “The Disappointing First Thrust of Euthenics.” Vassar Encyclopedia. https://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/interviews-and-reflections/the-disappointing-first-thrust-of-euthenics/
• Durant, Elizabeth. “Ellencyclopedia.” MIT Technology Review. 8/15/2007. https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/08/15/36578/ellencyclopedia/
• Dyball, Robert and Liesel Carlsson. Human Ecology Review, Vol. 23, No. 2, Special Issue: Human Ecology—A Gathering of Perspectives: Portraits from the Past—Prospects for the Future (2017). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26367977
• Egan, Kristen R. “Conservation and Cleanliness: Racial and Environmental Purity in Ellen Richards and Charlotte Perkins Gilman.” Women's Studies Quarterly , FALL/WINTER 2011, Vol. 39, No. 3/4. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41308345
• Hunt, Caroline Lousia. “The life of Ellen H. Richards, 1842-1911.” Boston: Whitcomb & Barrows. 1918. https://archive.org/details/lifeofellenhrich1918hunt
• Kwallek, Nancy. "Ellen Swallow Richards: visionary on home and sustainability." Phi Kappa Phi Forum, vol. 92, no. 2, summer 2012, pp. 8+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A291498991/GPS?u=mlin_n_melpub&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=7050163b. Accessed 6 Feb. 2023.
• McNeill, Leila. “The First Female Student at MIT Started an All-Women Chemistry Lab and Fought for Food Safety.” Smithsonian. 12/18/2018. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/first-female-student-mit-started-women-chemistry-lab-food-safety-180971056/
• Richardson, Barbara. “Ellen Swallow Richards: Advocate for ‘Oecology,’ Euthenics and Women’s Leadership in Using Science to Control the Environment.” Michigan Sociological Review , Fall 2000, Vol. 14 (Fall 2000). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40969050
• Smith, Coleen. "The William Barton Rogers Building - The Door Opens." Clio: Your Guide to History. October 24, 2022. Accessed February 8, 2023. https://theclio.com/entry/147331
• Smith, Nancy DuVergne. “Scene at MIT: Ellen Swallow Richards leads the Women's Laboratory.” MIT News. 3/21/2017. https://news.mit.edu/2017/scene-at-mit-ellen-swallow-richards-womens-laboratory-0321
• Talbot, H.P. “Ellen Swallow Richards.” Technology Review, volume 13, pp. 365-373. https://wayback.archive-it.org/7963/20190702115713/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/esr/esr-biography.html
• Vassar Encyclopedia. “Ellen Swallow Richards ’1870.” https://vcencyclopedia.vassar.edu/distinguished-alumni/ellen-swallow-richards/