Edith Ballinger Price Collection

Theodore William Richards was an American physical chemist best known for his work in determining the atomic weights of elements and as the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Born on January 31st, 1868, in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Richards was educated at home by his mother and father, a poet and painter respectively, until he entered Haverford College for his B.A. in science at the age of 14. Richards would go on to receive his M.A. and Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University in 1888. He continued his career at Harvard University, becoming a professor of chemistry in 1901. While at Harvard University, Richards began his research into the atomic weights of chemical elements, as the focus of his dissertation was the atomic weights of oxygen and hydrogen. Richards’ work helped to improve the technique of determining atomic weights and he redetermined the weights of twenty-five elements with greater accuracy. His work with atomic weights earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1914. Outside of his work with atomic weights, Richards also studied the compressibility of atoms as well as electrochemistry and thermodynamics. Richards was an active member in organizations such as the American Philosophical Society and the International Atomic Weights Committee and served as the president of the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to his Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Richards was also the recipient of the Davy Medal, the Willard Gibbs Medal, and the Lavoisier Medal.

Theodore William Richards passed away in Cambridge, Massachusetts on April 2, 1928, at the age of 60.