The First Women Doctor in Europe
Dr. Nadezhda Suslova M.D.
#1 of 7 of The Zurich 7 (1865-1867)
Thesis: Contributions to the Physiology of the Lymph Hearts
1843 - Born into a family of Serfs
Nadezhda Prokofevna Suslova was born in September, the second daughter of Prokofii Suslov and his wife Anna. The 5 year old Polina, her older sister, will get her own story later. Click Here for More
The family were serfs which meant they were legally connected to the land owned by the wealthy and powerful nobel family headed by Count Dmitrii Sheremetev. Prokofii was a highly skilled estate agent for the count, because of his success, they lived more comfortably and were better educated than most serfs. The journal Sovremennik (Contemporary) was part of family reading, it had recently been taken over by Chernyshevsky along with Nikolay Alexandrovich Dobrolyubov in 1853. (it’s extremely likely the girls would have known Dobrolyubov when they grew up in Nizhni Novgorod, is he the one sneaking books and materials to Polina???)
Learn more about it and role journalism played in society and the lives of Nadezhda and her sister.
1854 - Moved to Ostankino Palace
Prokofii was given a new assignment. At age 11, the family moved to Ostankino Palace near Moscow. It was a large property of the Shermetev family in need of much repair after it was raided and ransacked by Napoleon in 1812. The family was provided their own quarters in the palace while Prokofii oversaw the renovations. The count took a liking to the children, Polina, Nadezhda and their younger brother Vasilii ensuring they received high quality educations. The girls were sent to Madame Penigka’s boarding school for noble girls, though they were obviously not noble and it would have made for interesting dynamics within the school [LITL4, 2].
The Crimean War (1853–1856)
The Crimean War was a conflict primarily between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, Britain, France, and Sardinia. It was mainly fought over control of territories in the Ottoman Empire, particularly the strategic Black Sea and the Crimean Peninsula. The war highlighted issues of imperial ambition and religious tensions, as well as Russia's desire to expand its influence. Notable for poor military logistics and high casualties, the war is also remembered for advances in battlefield nursing, largely due to Florence Nightingale's efforts. The introduction of the telegram spread first person accounts of the atrocities of war across the globe making Florence Nightingale’s work news worldwide. Nicholas I died after the fall of Sevastopol, Alexander the II took over as the war ended with the Treaty of Paris.
1856 - End of Crimean War
Prokofii Suslov’s renovations were such a success Count Shermetev was able to invite the newly crowned tsar Aleksandr II to stay when he next visits Moscow after his coronation [LITL4, 2].
The elite members of society were hopeful for a new age of serf emancipation, education reform and increased rights for women.
The young people were especially optimistic.
The Crimean War was an embarrassment on a global scale for Russia. They showed the world how far behind they were in education, science and technology. The government rapidly assembled programs to train scientists, sending young men to Heidelberg, Gottingen, Berlin and Zurich for technical training. One of the other major reforms was a new system of secondary schools for girls of all social classes and these classes would include sewing, drawing, history, Russian language, geometry & physics (TTEOTT, 84). Results came quickly producing a golden age of Russian scientist which would include physiologist Ivan Sechenov, chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, neurophysiologist Ivan Pavlov, embryologist Aleksander Kovalevskii and his brother paleontologist Vladimir Kovalevskii.
March 30 1856 Tsar Alexander II (was the same day the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the Crimean War, was this the attempt to reshape the country’s defeat) addressed the Marshalls of Nobility saying that serfdom needs to end and asking them for the best way to accomplish this task.
Through some unknown intervention by the Count, Nadezhda and her older sister Apollinaria, though not noble, were admitted to Madame Penigka’s boarding school for noble ladies in the ancient city of Tver.
“I feel so out of place. The education is dull and boring, no science whatsoever, but at least the languages and history are well presented. Tsar Aleksander II will stay at the palace during his next visit to Moscow.”
1859 - St. Petersburg
(by now 1/3 of landowner estates and 2/3 of private serfs were mortgaged to the state - needs referenced)
The family moved to the permanent residence of Count Sheremetev in St. Petersburg. Apollinaria and Nadezhda were enrolled in school for noble women and their younger brother, Vasilii, attended the boys school, followed by university courses.
By 16, Nadezhda received her governess diploma but her focus was intent on her causes for women. Among them being:
emancipation, no longer property of their fathers/husbands.
equal opportunity for the acceptance into the university, especially the medical schools.
By this time the first women were showing up in the lecture halls in St. Petersburgh (TTEOTT, 84).
They discussed their beliefs at secret meetings of secret societies trying to evade government observation (The Land and Freedom Party) Women were desperate for economic and personal independence and equality.
1860 - Medical and Surgical Military Academy
(Ivan Sechenov defends his medical thesis at the Medical and Surgical academy in St. Petersburg and quickly founded a physiology laboratory)
Women were a significant part of the unofficial student body at many universities, auditing classes without receiving official credit or degrees. They were tolerated by the authorities due to the liberalization of universities after the Crimean War. A few women were accepted on a semiofficial basis at the military supported St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy. They could take exams and perform in the laboratory but could not receive official degrees. Two women from the Land and Freedom organization were among them, Nadezhda and Maria Obruchova (TTEOTT, 85).
Being raised as a serf Nadezhda was now an emancipated woman and could make choices as she wished but Maria could not. It took an unusual sort of arranged marriage for Maria to escape the confines of her father’s country estate so she could live and study in St. Petersburg. [Her story is here]. In St. Petersburgh, the young professor Ivan Sechenov granted permission to Nadezhda and Maria to attend his lectures and set them on research projects. Summary of Sechenov's research and contributions by the women here.
The women were optimistic that soon they would be admitted as regular students with the same rights of men. A proposed draft of a new university statue included that proposal which would have made Russia the first country in Europe to grand women the same degrees and status as men. That proposal was eliminated by the government and women continued on attending courses in an unofficial status. Up to as many as 200-300 women attended lectures in search of education and employment [TFM. 6].
It was a time when the ideas of Charles Darwin were sweeping through the universities and the ranks of the intelligentsia. New scientific ideas and the expectation of revolutionary change was talked about by the young and old (TTEOTT,83). Books like Turgenev’s Fathers & Children capture the dynamic of the time, similar to the millennial vs boomer battles of the 2020s. His use of the word “nihilist” do describe the young science minded protagonist studying to become a doctor, sparked a generation of men and women to adopt the title and take on the role.
“Science was the key to modernization”
1861 - Serf Emancipation
This year at least two women as the question - Can we be official Students?
Liudmila Ozhigina petitioned the Medical Surgical Academy in St. Petersburgh for the right to officially enroll as a “student” not just an “auditor” as she had been classified throughout her courses anatomy at the University of Kharkov. The president of the academy refused her petition, but the act provoked discussion in the press (TTEOTT, 85).
“The Woman Question: Should women be admitted to full degree status?”
The answer to that question was favorable if it was asked in St. Petersburg, but it was negative in Moscow & Dorpat.
Maria Mihailovna Korkunova petitioned the government to officially enroll in school.
March 3, Alexander II issued the proclamation freeing serfs. Immediately, protest erupted, many centered around the universities. Peasants were confused and unhappy with land allocations, students demanded the right to hold meetings and form lodging cooperatives and women were outraged that they were banned from universities. Protests continued throughout the year with uprisings being suppressed by force, participants were arrested and exiled to Siberia.
This year 18 year old Nadezhda published two short stories in the Russian journal Sovremennik
Rasskaz v pismah (Story in Letters?)
Fantazyorka (Dreamer or the Dream).
Other references indicate a title named Sashka and indicate they were published in 1862 and 1864
Another reference indicates: [In 1861, 18-year-old Nadezhda published in the Sovremennik magazine (published by N. A. Nekrasov and I. I. Panaev ) her works The Story in Letters (No. 8) and Dreamer (No. 9).]
1862 - 1st Publication
Nadezhda publishes her work in Russian
Izmenenie kozhnykh oshushchenii pod vliianiem elektricheskogo razdrazheniia [Changes in skin sensations under the influence of electrical stimulation] St. Petersburg Med Vestnik nos 21,22
The young people of the ‘60s put their faith in natural science, the power of education, equality for women and the peasant community. They wanted to be of use to ordinary people in Russia. They believed science and education would push back religion and superstition that dominated society.
1863 - Universities Closed for Most Women
Nadeshda publishes her work in German
Veranderungen der Hautgefuhle unter dem Einflusse electrischer Reizungen. Ztschr. Rationelle Med 17 155-60 [same but in german publication]
Ivan Sechenov publishes Reflexes of the Brain knowing it will likely cause a stir insinuating that the body has automatic responses in conflict with the concept of free-will supported by religion.
Dostoyevsky proposes to Polina
The universities reopen under new government charter, but women were denied access [TFM, 2]. The tsarist government connected the education of women with subversive revolutionary world views. The Tsar feared a potential assassin lurked within every “studentka” They hoped their exclusion would help settle the unrest. The St. Petersburg Medical-Surgical Academy held out longer accepting women auditors until 1864 allowing Nadezhda and Maria to continue their studies for a bit longer, but not much.
Nadezhda writes a letter to her sister Apollinaria in October saying:
“it is quite impossible to stay at the academy any longer, on account of the silly tricks played by students.”
She goes on to ask if it would be possible for her to take some lectures in Paris.
1864 - Universities Closed for ALL Women
By May, the War Ministry which governed the Medical-Surgical Academy issued an order banning women from the institute. The lone exception being Varvara Kashevarova Rudneva [link to Wikipedia page]. Varvara was motivated to study medicine to help the Muslim women of the Bashkir ethnic group. Their conservative religion prevented them from visiting male doctors. The provincial government were in such need of female doctors they petitioned the Tsar directly to allow her to study. It is a sad irony that after finishing her studies, she was prevented from practicing medicine since all the hospitals in the region were run by the military and refused to license her.
In Switzerland, Maria Kniazhnina requested permission to attend anatomy and microscopy at the University of Zurich. Zurich was a bit of an island of liberal and progressive believes leaving behind the provincial ideals (city of 35k at the time, that seems tiny now has close to a million) The medical faculty at Zurich was composed of many German professors fleeing the restrictive atmosphere of their universities, the city was considered a peaceful island in a stormy ocean according to a visiting pathologist.
In Russia, Nadezhda was under government observation, her friends were arrested. Professor Sechenov suggested she travel to Zurich to attend university courses there.
Her sister Polina publishes two stories “The Dream” and “Mikhail.”
1865 - Escape to Zurich
[SIDE STORY - April 19th while still in Petersburg, Nadezhda receives a letter from Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. He’s sending her a letter for her older sister Apollinaria, he knows that she might be joining Nadezhda in Zurich soon. He avoids her question “does he like to feast on the sufferings and tears of others?” He references the possibility that Nadezhda will stay in Zurich for a long time and he urges her to write him and closes the letter, “I love you as one would love one’s favorite sister.”]
The University of Zurich was one of the only schools that did not require the passing of a formal leaving exam (Matura) that most European Gymnasiums (boys schools) offered. Most girls weren’t able to attend those schools, or sit for the Matura so they weren’t able to qualify to apply to most schools.
(some of Nadezhda’s naivety came from the assumption that the rest of Europe and particularly America was much more advanced in the progression of women’s education and emancipation…she was a bit surprised to show up and realize women weren’t attending the university nor did it seem like anyone wanted in)
Nadezhda arrives in Zurich, she informally audits classes by individual professors for two years, including work in pharmacology, obstetrics & surgery. She rooms in a boarding house Fluntern with Maria Kniazhnin the other woman student. Maria shows up in Polina Suslova’s diary in June of 1865 when she visits her sister and the chemistry lab of Aleksandr Andreevich Vergo.
She was a very hard worker, classes started at 6am and continued into the evening. “she had a quite, serious temperament with deep feelings and a thoughtful, melancholy look from somewhat deep-set brown eyes.”
She asked the University of Zurich for permission to take the oral examination which would qualify her medical degree. This required a decision by the University Senate and a decision by the local government of Switzerland to accept women as full time traditional students. The educational authorities of the swiss canton pushed the decision back to the faculty of the university. As the record indicates, no one opposed the move to admit Suslova as a retroactive full time student, faculty included Anton Biemer, Adolf Frick, Billroth, Edmund Rose, Hermann von Meyer, Gusserow, Carl Eberth Friedrich Horner Heinrich Frey.
1866
1867
Nadezhda becomes the first official female student at the University.
Summer
Suslova passes the difficult qualifying exam for the medical degree, then on to Gratz to write her thesis under Professor Sechenov, now at Graz Austria working at the Institute for Physiology. He reached out to her because he had a tedious doctoral project for her, correlating the reflex muscle action of live frogs with the functioning of the lymphatic hearts spaced along their nerve system.
Fall of 67
Frances Morgan and Louisa Atkins received permission to officially matriculate into the university.
Nadezhda’s defense was in December 1867 where she underwent sharp questioning In front of a large audience. Her thesis was on the physiology of the lymphatic system. Ivan Sechenov was an unofficial advisor and worked closely with her while she completed her research, he called her dissertation “magnificent.”
Upon completion of her defense a professor said “soon, we are coming to the end of slavery for women, and soon we will have the practical emancipation of women in every country and with it the right to work.”
“I am the first, but not the last. After me there will come thousands.”
Her degree represented the first granted to a women from a western university with high academic standards. It was widely reported across Europe and America and literally opened the door to a new era of education for women.
NEWS OF DR NADEZHDA SUSLOVA M.D.
The event caused a big response with many magazines publishing reports about her degree. Famous people including Alexander Herzen greeted Suslova when she returned to Russia in 1867.
1868
Beitrage zur Physiologie der Lymphherzen. Ztschr. Rationelle Med 31 1868 224-33
April 16th 1868 Nadezhda Marries Friedrich Huldreich Erismann (they met in late 1865 or 1866) when they return to Russia, he will eventuall hold the highest position in public health in the Russian Empire.
Nadezhda returned to Russia where, after much campaigning, she was granted a medical license. She continued her work in Russia and was one of the first to note that blindness in infants could be caused by exposure to gonorrhea during passage through the birth canal.
1870
Suslova-Erismann [On the upbringing of children in their early years]
Selected Resources:
[LITL4] Creese, M. R. S. (2015). Ladies in the Laboratory IV: Imperial Russia's women in science, 1800-1900: A survey of their contributions to research. Scarecrow Press.