Nadezhda Suslova

Nadezhda Suslova
Nadezhda Suslova
Born September 1, 1843(1843-09-01)[1]
Panino, Nizhny Novgorod guberniya
Died April 20, 1918(1918-04-20) (aged 74)
Crimea
Education Kirov Military Medical Academy
University of Zurich
Relatives Friedrich Erismann (spouse, 1867–1915) [his death]
Profession surgeon, obstetrician, gynecologist

Nadezhda Prokofyevna Suslova (Russian: Надежда Прокофьевна Суслова; 1843–1918) was Russia's first female physician and a sister of Polina Suslova.[2][3] She worked as a gynecologist in Nizhny Novgorod, was involved in many charity efforts.[1]

Contents

Biography

Early life

Nadezhda was born in Panino village, Nizhny Novgorod guberniya.[3] Her father was the Sheremetevs's serf, but was able to succeed as a merchant and manufacturer. He decided to give a proper education to his daughters, Polina (a diminutive form of the given name Apollinaria) and Nadezhda. At home they had a governess, and a dancing teacher.[4] Later she entered Penichkau Boarding school in Moscow, where she learned several foreign languages. Like other young people at that time, Nadezhda was fond of reading, enjoyed the works of Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov[1] and befriended revolutionary democrats. In 1859 the Suslov sisters moved Saint Petersburg. In 1861 her short stories Rasskaz v pismah (Russian: Рассказ в письмах) and Fantazyorka (Russian: Фантазёрка) were published in Sovremennik. In the 1860s Nadezhda Suslova joined revolutionary organization Land and Liberty.

Career

She was allowed by Sechenov and Botkin to attended classes at the Kirov Military Medical Academy.[1] Her first article Changes in skin sensations under the influence of electrical stimulation was published in Meditsinskiy Vestnik in 1862. In 1864, after women were officially banned from universities, she moved to Switzerland and graduated from the University of Zurich.[1][3] Suslova was the first Russian woman to be awarded a Doctor of Medicine degree (1867)[5] as a surgeon/obstetrician. In 1867 she married Friedrich Erismann and with him returned to Saint Petersburg, where she had to pass the exams again and defend her diploma for the second time.

References