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Theodore Richards (1868–1928)

1914 Chemistry

In recognition of his accurate determinations of the atomic weight of a large number of chemical elements.

Outside of the work that made him famous, Theodore William Richards had diverse interests and a special appreciation for outdoor activities. Besides golf and sailing, drawing occupied a significant part of his free time. His artistic skills were likely inherited from his father, William T. Richards, who was a well-known landscape painter. His mother, Anna Matlack, was a respected poet and made sure the arts were a part of her son’s upbringing.

Richards spent a large part of his childhood in Germantown, Pennsylvania, but traveled to France and England with his family. He was educated by his mother until the age of 15, when he entered Haverford College. In 1885 he graduated in the sciences and in the same year entered Harvard University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886 and a Master of Arts and Doctorate in 1888.

Richards spent the following year in Germany, where he studied under some of the greatest chemists of his day. On his return to Harvard, he served as a chemistry assistant until 1901, when he became a full professor. The discoveries he made during the next years of his life were of great importance to the understanding of atoms. Besides many other advances, he developed techniques that allowed him to determine the exact atomic weights of more than 30 elements, including oxygen, silver, chlorine, iodine, potassium, sodium and nitrogen.

This work was recognized with the 1914 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. However, due to traveling restrictions during World War I, Richards was unable to attend the ceremony in Stockholm. Besides this acknowledgment, he also received various honorary doctorates in science, medicine, philosophy, law and chemistry awarded by such universities as Yale, Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, Manchester, Princeton and Prague. Over the years he was president of the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Richards married Miriam Stuart Thayer in 1896, and they had two sons and a daughter. This notable chemist died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 2, 1928.