Please answer the following question: Facts: - death place: cambridge , massachusetts - doctoral students: gilbert smyth n. lewis farrington daniels malcolm dole charles phelps - prizes: davy prize for chemistry -lrb- 1914 -rrb- franklin medal -lrb- 1916 medal -rrb- willard gibbs award -lrb- 1912 -rrb- nobel - known for: atomic weights thermochemistry electrochemistry - death date: 2 april 1928 - field: physical chemistry - doctoral advisor: josiah parsons cooke - work institution: harvard university - birth date: 31 january 1868 - name: theodore william richards - image size: 180px - nationality: united states - image: richards_theodore_william_lab . jpg - birth place: germantown , pennsylvania - alma mater: haverford college harvard university Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of theodore william richards .
Answer:
theodore william richards -lrb- january 31 , 1868 -- april 2 , 1928 -rrb- was the first american scientist to receive the nobel prize in chemistry , earning the award '' in recognition of his exact determinations of the atomic weights of a large number of the chemical elements . ''