MIT Scientists Play Major Roles in the Early Work of the Station 

Hiram Francis Mills, C.E.
"Father of American Sanitary Engineering"

Mills was a noted hydraulic engineer and was Chief Engineer of the Essex Companv, which controlled power development along the Merrimack River. In 1886, Mills was appointed to the Massachusetts State Board of Health and appointed Chairman of the Board's Committee on Water Supply and Waste Water Disposal. Between 1887 and 1915, he was in charge of the sanitary investigations at the Lawrence Experiment Station. Mills was also a member of the MIT Corporation.

William Ripley Nichols
Professor of Chemistry, MIT

Professor Nichols was a pioneer in the field of water chemistry. Between 1870 and 1885, he conducted numerous studies of community water supply and wastewater disposal problems for the Massachusetts State Board of Health. He performed analytical chemistry research in the MIT chemical laboratory. He was assisted in some of these studies by Ellen Swallow Richards.

Ellen Swallow Richards
Instructor of Chemistry, MIT

Richards was the first female graduate of MIT (1873) and stayed on at the Institute to become an Instructor in Chemistry. She made important contributions to the sanitary chemistry work undertaken at MIT from the 1870's through the 1890's.

William Thomson Sedgwick, Ph.D.
Professor of Biology, MIT

In 1888, Professor Sedgwick was named Consulting Biologist to the Massachusetts State Board of Health. He directed all of the early bacteriological and biological work at the Lawrence Experiment Station. He is considered to be the father of modern epidemiology. The Sedgwick-Rafter method for microscopic examination and counting of plankton is still widely used.

Thomas Messinger Drown, M.D.
Professor of Chemistry, MIT

In 1887, Professor Drown was appointed Consulting Chemist to the Massachusetts State Board of Health. He directed all of the chemical analyses undertaken at the Lawrence Experiment Station between 1887 and 1895. He developed and perfected the variety of chemical tests of sewage and water that the Station became known for. In 1895, Professor Drown left MIT to become President of Lehigh University.