Hedda Albertina Andersson (24 April 1861, in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

– 7 September 1950, in

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

), was a Swedish

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

. She was the second female student at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

and the second university-educated woman physician in Sweden.

Life

Hedda Andersson was the daughter of a male laborer named Andersson and the

cunning woman Cunning folk, also known as folk healers or wise folk, were practitioners of folk medicine, helpful folk magic and divination in Europe from the Middle Ages until the 20th century. Their practices were known as the cunning craft. Their services ...

Johanna Andersson. When her father died in 1866, she moved with her mother and three siblings to live with her grandmother. On her mother's side, she descended from a line of medicine women, known to have practiced traditional

folk medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

for at least seven generations, dating back to the 17th century. Hedda was the daughter of Johanna Andersson, who was the daughter of Elna Hansson, the daughter of Marna Nilsdotter, the daughter of Elna Hansdotter, the daughter of Sissa Mårtensdotter, the daughter of Elna Persdotter - the family had over 150 years of healing history when Hedda was born.Swedish Biographical Lexicon website, ''Elna Hansson''
/ref> Her mother and grandmother worked together as medical practitioners in

. Her grandmother was famous in all

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

as the ''Lundakvinnan'' ("Woman of Lund"), and had educated herself to a

barber surgeon The barber surgeon was one of the most common European medical practitioners of the Middle Ages, generally charged with caring for soldiers during and after battle. In this era, surgery was seldom conducted by physicians. Instead, barbers, who ...

to avoid being accused of

quackery Quackery, often synonymous with health fraud, is the promotion of fraudulent or Ignorance, ignorant medicine, medical practices. A quack is a "fraudulent or ignorant pretender to medical skill" or "a person who pretends, professionally or public ...

, as did her daughter, the mother of Hedda, for the same reason. When the universities of Sweden were opened to women in 1870, her mother and grandmother decided that she should study medicine at a university and obtain a formal license, to avoid being persecuted and accused of quackery, which had been the case with many women in the history of their family, such as her grandmother and mother. Hedda Andersson was educated at the school of Maria Stenkula, and was admitted to Lund University in 1880. She has been referred to as the first female student there, though actually this was

Hildegard Björck Thora Maria Fredrika Hildegard Björck (1 May 1847 – 7 April 1920) was the first Swedish woman to complete an academic degree.bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in 1887 and her medical license in 1892. She thereby became the second female physician to have graduated from a Swedish university after

Karolina Widerström Karolina Olivia Widerström (10 December 1856 – 4 March 1949) was a Swedish medical doctor and gynecologist. She was the first female physician with a university education in her country. She was also a feminist and a politician, and engaged i ...

. She also studied in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

in 1892 and 1895, and under Max Sänger in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

in 1893. She was active as a doctor in

Ronneby Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 12,029 inhabitants in 2010. Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's m ...

1892–95, in Malmö in 1893–95, and in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

1895–1925, after which she settled in Lund.

Memorials

Visiting scholar In academia, a visiting scholar, visiting scientist, visiting researcher, visiting fellow, visiting lecturer, or visiting professor is a scholar from an institution who visits a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic fo ...

Professorship was created at the

in 2009 in memory of Hedda Andersson.Lund University website, Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate, ''Hedda Andersson visiting professorship at BECC and the CEC'' (March 12, 2018)
/ref>

References

Margareta Wickström: Medicinska Fackulteten, Lunds universitet

Gothenburg University Library, newspaper article dated January 24, 1896
* Margareta Wickström: Medicinska fakulteten, Lunds universitet * Idun. Nummer 6, 1891 * Idun. Nummer 4, 1896 * Schenlær, Margareta, Malmökvinnor, Malmö kulturhistoriska fören., Malmö, 2003

Life

Memorials

See also

References

Further reading