Theodore William Richards: apostle of atomic weights and Nobel Prize winner in 1914

In recognition of his exact determinations of the atomic weights of a large number of the chemical elements, T. W. Richards received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1914. His meticulous techniques resulted in "a degree of accuracy never before attained". This Essay follows Richards from his precocious youth to becoming a celebrated chemist and emphasizes his dedication to forseeing likely sources of error and how to avoid them.