Elisabeth Winterhalter

Elisabeth Hermine Winterhalter (17 December 1856, in Munich – 13 February 1952, in Hofheim am Taunus) was a German gynecologist, surgeon, feminist and patron of the arts.

There, Winterhalter also had an opportunity to set up the first gynecological polyclinic at the DRK-Schwesternschaft [de] (a Red Cross organization).

Although she was unable to obtain a German medical license, she established a reputation as a gynecologist and obstetrician and, in 1895, became the first female surgeon in Germany to perform a laparotomy.

[4] Together with Dr. Ludwig Edinger, under the aegis of Prof. Carl Weigert, she conducted research that led to the discovery of the ganglion cell of the ovary, and published a major paper on the subject in 1896.

Therefore, at the age of forty-seven, she took the Physikum and the Staatsexamen and, in 1903, was issued a license to practice medicine in Germany.

[3] During the rise of the Nazis, they were left largely unmolested, but became increasingly withdrawn, socially.

[3] On her 95th birthday, she was honored by President Theodor Heuss for her pioneering work in opening up the medical profession to women.