The Remarkable Life and Career of Ellen Swallow Richards: Pioneer in Science and Technology

Chapter 17

Environmental Activist

“New Science. Mrs. Richards Names It Oekology.”

~ Boston Daily Globe, December 1, 1892

“And now I ask you here tonight to stand sponsors of the christening of a new science and to give the same your fostering care and generous support,” Ellen said, speaking before a large gathering of Boston’s elite at the opulent, palatial Vendome Hotel, located just north of Copley Square. It was the first commercial building in the city to have electricity, and it had been inspected by Thomas Edison himself.

It was the evening of November 30th, 1892, and she was introducing an unfamiliar word to the American public. “Oekology.” Twenty-six years earlier in Europe, a German scientist, Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919), had coined the term “Oekologie” in his book Morphology of Organisms. Haeckel defined the term, later spelled “ecology,” as meaning “the total relations of the animal to both to its inorganic and organic environment.” After coining the term, Haeckel then moved on to concentrate on other branches of science. Ellen had written to Haeckel and received permission to use his term, “oekologie.” Knowing German and ancient Greek, Ellen understood what the term meant. She translated it to mean “universal house,” or “household of nature.” The audience of some 300 hundred people listened intently as she spoke without notes and explained the importance and necessity of this environmental science.

The next day the Boston Daily Globe would announce this new word in a ...