Edith A. Roberts

She created the first ecological laboratory in the United States, promoted natural landscaping along with Elsa Rehmann, and proved that plants were the main source of vitamin A. Edith A. Roberts was born on April 28, 1881, into a farmer's family in Rollinsford, New Hampshire.

[2] Roberts worked as instructor to an associate professor at Mount Holyoke College from 1915 to 1917, when she was employed by the United States Department of Agriculture as an extension worker.

[2] She traveled throughout all 48 states on a mission to educate women on managing farms in place of men who were fighting in World War I.

[2] Landscape architect Elsa Rehmann, also employed by Vassar College, interpreted the results of Roberts' research in the context of garden design.

[3] In 1948, she presented a paper, coauthored with Mildred Southwick, proving that vitamin A could be obtained from young green and yellow plant parts and not mainly from fish liver oils.

[1] After Roberts' retirement, the Dutchess County Outdoor Ecological Laboratory was maintained for a few more years but soon fell into neglect.