A petition sent to Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1741 secured Dorothea Christiane Erxleben formal permission to enter the University of Halle, an unprecedented move for a woman in the Holy Roman Empire. Though family obligations initially delayed her enrollment, she eventually secured her place in medical history as the first woman to earn a doctorate in medicine in Germany.
Early Education and Enlightenment Influences
Born in Quedlinburg in 1715 to the physician Christian Polycarp Leporin and his wife Anna Sophia, Dorothea was raised within the intellectual currents of the Enlightenment. Her father, a progressive proponent of female education, tutored her in Latin, mathematics, and science. While her brother attended school, she studied through correspondence and private instruction under teachers such as Herr Prillwitz. Exposed to the work of thinkers like Anna Maria van Schurman, she developed an early interest in medical theory, observing her father’s clinical practice as a child.
Twenty questions, eight minutes on the clock, and a percentile measured against everyone who has taken it. No sign-up.
Take the IQ test →Academic Challenges and Domestic Life
Following the death of her cousin in 1741, Erxleben married the widower Johann Christian Erxleben. The couple had four children, in addition to the five children from her husband’s previous marriage. During this period, she published 'A Thorough Inquiry into the Causes Preventing the Female Sex from Studying' in 1742. This text argued that women possessed the intellectual capacity for rigorous academic work, hindered primarily by rigid societal expectations rather than inherent limitations. Despite securing royal entry to the University of Halle, family duties and the demands of the Silesian Wars meant she did not attend immediately.
Practice and Professional Validation
In 1747, faced with significant debts following her father’s death and her husband’s poor health, Erxleben began practicing medicine in Quedlinburg without a degree. Her proficiency gained local respect, eventually provoking a lawsuit from local physicians who claimed her work constituted medical quackery. To resolve the dispute, the king ordered her to undergo a formal examination at the University of Halle. She passed the rigorous assessment in 1754 and successfully defended a dissertation criticizing the excessive use of harsh purgatives and unnecessary opiates in contemporary clinical treatments.
Fast facts
- Born: 13 November 1715, Quedlinburg
- Died: 13 June 1762, Quedlinburg
- Education: Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
- Citizenship: Holy Roman Empire
- Profession: Physician
- Major publication: A Thorough Inquiry into the Causes Preventing the Female Sex from Studying (1742)
- Dissertation topic: Critique of excessive laxative and opiate use
Questions readers ask
Was she the first woman to study medicine in Germany?
She was the first woman to earn a doctor of medicine degree in Germany, completing her dissertation and examination at the University of Halle in 1754.
Why was she sued by other doctors?
Local physicians filed a lawsuit against her for practicing medicine without a degree, viewing her successful work in Quedlinburg as a threat to their professional monopoly.
Achievements
- Held posts at Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
- Fields: health sciences