Charlotte Fitch Roberts
Charlotte Fitch Roberts was an American chemist best known for her work on stereochemistry.
Life
Roberts was born on February 13, 1859, in New York City to Horace Roberts and Mary Roberts. During a time when few women pursued higher education, Roberts demonstrated an early interest in science, which would later lead her to study chemistry and contribute to the field of stereochemistry.
Education and career
Roberts attended Wellesley College in 1880. Wellesley made her a graduate assistant in 1881, an instructor in 1882, and an associate professor in 1886. In 1885 she spent a year at Cambridge University working with Sir James Dewar, a chemist and physicist. In 1896 she published The Development and Present Aspects of Stereochemistry. She obtained a PhD from Yale in 1894 and a post at the University of Berlin from 1899 to 1900. Roberts' PhD, in the field of chemistry, is historically notable for being the first in that particular field awarded to a female Yale student. She was made a professor and the head of the chemistry department from 1896 to 1917 at Wellesley College.
Roberts was made a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a chemistry professorship at Wellesley now bears her name.