Lella Regula Trafelet
- Program
- Subject
- Location
- Lat/Long
- Grant Recipient
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Indiana Historical Bureau
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People
- 208 E Market St, Vevay, IN, USA
- 38.7480282, -85.0649376
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Indiana Historical Bureau
Lella Regula Trafelet
Inscription
Lella Regula TrafeletSide One: Lella Regula Trafelet, 1908-1988
Groundbreaking research chemist Lella Trafelet was born near Vevay. In 1938, she earned her M.A. in Chemistry at Indiana University before overseeing laboratories at the U.S. Rubber Company, Naugatuck Chemical Division in Connecticut. In the 1940s, Trafelet began a decades long-career at Michigan’s Wyandotte Chemicals Corporation, where she overcame gender barriers.
Side Two:
Trafelet developed methods to determine detergent levels in rivers and lakes, work that intersected with passage of the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act. By the 1960s, she served as Wyandotte Chemicals senior research chemist and earned recognition in American Men of Science. Trafelet helped women advance in chemistry, training employees in analytical research.
Installed 2024 Indiana Historical Bureau, William G. Pomeroy Foundation, and Switzerland County Historical Society