The first female student at MIT, Ellen Swallow Richards, was admitted in 1870 as a special student in chemistry, under the condition of “it being understood that her admission did not establish a precedent for the general admission of females.” Among her many accomplishments, she petitioned to establish the Women’s Laboratory at MIT for the instruction of women in chemistry, where she served as instructor of chemistry and mineralogy until the lab’s eventual closing. She also led the Rumford Kitchen, which demonstrated the application of principles of chemistry to the science of cooking, at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago; established the program that pioneered school lunches for children; was a founder of what would later become the American Association of University Women; and is responsible for introducing the term “ecology” into the English language.