Rachel Lloyd (January 26, 1839 – March 7, 1900) was an American chemist who focused on the chemistry and agriculture of sugar beets (Beta vulgaris). She studied at the Harvard Summer School and received her doctorate from the University of Zurich in 1886. She was the first American woman to earn a doctorate of chemistry and the first woman author in a major chemistry journal. She worked as a professor of chemistry and head of the chemistry department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her work in determining the sucrose concentration of sugar beets helped establish a commercial sugar industry in Nebraska. In 1891, she became the first regularly admitted female member of the American Chemical Society. On October 1, 2014, the Society designated her research and professional contributions to chemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln a National Historic Chemical Landmark. Early life and education Rachel Abbie Lloyd (née Holloway) was born in Flushing, Ohio to a Quaker couple, Robert Smith Halloway and Abigail Taber. Both of her parents were teachers until her father became the postmaster in Smyrna, Ohio. She underwent loss at a young age; all three of her siblings died in infancy, her mother died when she was five, and her father died when she was 12. She was raised by her father's second wife. At the age of 13, Holloway began attending Friends School in Flushing, Ohio and continued her education at Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Her final year of schooling was completed at Miss Margaret Robinson's School for Young Ladies, where she would also begin teaching. During her time at Robinson's School she met Franklin Lloyd, a chemist with Powers and Weightman. On May 11, 1859, when she was 20 years old, Rachel and Franklin got married. Lloyd noted that Franklin kept a chemical laboratory in their home, which is where her interest in the field originated. In 1863, the couple moved to Bangor, Michigan where Franklin managed a saw mill, salt works and barrel factory for lumber merchants back in Philadelphia. Together they had two children: Fannie Lloyd (1860–1860) and William C. Lloyd (1865–1865), both of whom died in infancy, Frannie of "disease of the brain" and William of jaundice. Franklin also died in 1865, shortly after William's death. After her husband's death, Lloyd was left with a substantial sum of money and used it to travel Europe from 1867–1872, seeking medical help