| Names |
ANANDI GOPAL JOSHI |
| Date of
Birth |
March 31, 1865
– Pune, Maharashtra, India. |
| Date of
Death |
February 26, 1887 |
| Identity |
One of the first
South Asian female Physicians. |
|
Date-wise Events / Works |
- March 11, 1886: She was
first of the two first Indian women to obtain a medical
degree through training in Western medicine, on this day.
Kadambini Ganguly was the other woman who earned a medical
degree the same year, 1886, as Anandibai.
- 1988: Caroline Wells Healey
Dall wrote Anandibai's biography in 1888.
|
| General |
- Her Birth name is Yamuna and a.k.a. Anandibai Gopal
Joshi.
- She was married at the tender age of 9 years, and
she gave birth to a son when she was just 14 years of age.
- The son could survive only for ten days and succumbed to
death because of non-availablity of needed medical care.
- This situation proved a turning point in Anandibai's
life, and inspired her to become a physician.
- Her husband decided to send Anandibai by herself to
America for her medical studies despite her poor health.
Gopalrao, her husband, convinced her to set an example for
other women by pursuing high education.
- In America, her declining health worsened and she
contracted tuberculosis. Nevertheless, she graduated with an
M.D. on March 11, 1886, the topic of her thesis having been
"Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindus".
- On her graduation, Queen Victoria sent her a
congratulatory message.
- In late 1886, she returned to India, receiving a hero's
welcome.
- The princely state of Kolhapur appointed her as the
physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert
Edward Hospital. But she died early next year on February
26, 1887 before reaching age 22.
- Her death was mourned throughout India.
- Doordarshan aired a Hindi serial named "Anandi
Gopal" based on Anandibai's life.
- Shrikrishna Janardan Joshi wrote a fictionalized account
of Anandabai 's life in his Marathi novel Anandi Gopal. (The
novel has been translated in an abridged form in English by
Asha Damle.) It has also been adapted into a play of the
same name by Ram G. Joglekar.
- Institute for Research and Documentation in Social
Sciences (IRDS), a Non-governmental organization from
Lucknow has been awarding the Anandibai Joshi award for
Medicine in reverence to her early contributions to the
cause of Medical sciences in India.
- Government of Maharashtra has established a fellowship
in her name for young women working on women’s health.
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