The Edinburgh Seven by Melissa Highton, University of Edinburgh, UK
Video by Vince Lane.
This talk was part of the 'Physiology on Wikipedia' event for Physiology Friday 2017.
The
Edinburgh Seven were the first group of matriculated
undergraduate female students at any British university. They began
studying medicine at the
University of Edinburgh
in 1869 and although they were ultimately prevented from graduating and
qualifying as doctors, the campaign they fought gained national
attention and won them many supporters, including
Charles Darwin.
Their campaign put the rights of women to a university education on the
national political agenda, which eventually resulted in legislation to
ensure that women could study medicine at university in 1876 (
UK Medical Act 1876).