Abstract
Women’s contributions in water quality have revolutionized the thinking of society about how to interact with the Earth’s natural resources. This chapter covers four prominent women pioneers in water quality. Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards, designated by Engineering News Record as “the first female environmental engineer,” developed the first state water quality standards in the late 1800s. Ruth Patrick, after whom the biodiversity tenet the Patrick Principle is named, matched the types and numbers of diatoms in water to the type and extent of water pollution and invented the diatometer to collect and measure those diatoms. Rachel Carson, credited as the catalyst for the environmental movement of the 1960s and 1970s that continues today, wrote extensively about the oceans in addition to authoring Silent Spring, an exposé on pesticides. “Her Deepness” oceanographer Sylvia Earle is working today to preserve the world’s oceans.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Women were allowed to enroll officially at MIT in 1876.
- 2.
Significant deviations from normal levels of chlorine are an indication of sewage contamination.
- 3.
In 2011, the Academy of Natural Sciences became affiliated with Drexel University [13].
References
Weingardt RG (2004) Engineering legends: Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards and Benjamin Wright. Leadersh Manage Eng: ASCE 4:156–160
Ogilvie M, Harvey J (eds) (2000) The biographical dictionary of women in science: pioneering lives from ancient times to the mid-20th century. Routledge, New York
Profitt P (ed) (1999) Notable women scientists. The Gale Group, Detroit
James ET (1971) Notable American women: a biographical dictionary. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Durant E MIT technology review, “Ellencyclopedia.” https://www.technologyreview.com/s/408456/ellencyclopedia/. August 15, 2007
Kass-Simon G, Farnes P (eds) (1990) Women of science: righting the record. Indiana University Press, Bloomington
Bailey MJ (1994) American women in science a biographical dictionary. ABC-CLIO, Denver
Shearer BF, Shearer BS (eds) (1997) Notable women in the physical sciences: a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Press, Westport
https://thisdayinwaterhistory.wordpress.com/tag/ellen-swallow-richards/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/24/us/ruth-patrick-a-pioneer-in-pollution-control-dies-at-105.html
Bott TL, Sweeney BW (2013) A biographical memoir, Ruth Patrick 1907–2013, National Academy of Sciences. http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/patrick-ruth.pdf
Shearer BF, Shearer BS (eds) (1996) Notable women in the life sciences: a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Press, Westport
Zauzmer J “Ruth Patrick, ecology pioneer, dies at 105.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/ruth-patrick-ecology-pioneer-dies-at-105/2013/09/23/2bcde762-245e-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html?utm_term=.5d9dd8392428. September 23, 2013
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, A Biography of Ruth Patrick. http://www.ansp.org/research/environmental-research/people/patrick/biography/
Turkson N The Atlantic in nature. http://www.theatlantic.com/notes/2016/02/atlantic-nature-writing/460158/. February 9, 2016
National Geographic, Explorers: Bio – Sylvia Earle. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/explorers/bios/sylvia-earle/
TED: Ideas worth spreading, Sylvia Earle – Oceanographer. https://www.ted.com/speakers/sylvia_earle
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tietjen, J.S. (2020). Pioneering Women in Water Quality. In: O’Bannon, D. (eds) Women in Water Quality. Women in Engineering and Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17819-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17819-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17818-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17819-2
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)