Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi

Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi ( Putnam; August 31, 1842 – June 10, 1906) was an English-American physician, teacher, scientist, writer, and suffragist. She was the first woman admitted to study medicine at the University of Paris and the first woman to graduate from a pharmacy college in the United States. Jacobi had a long career practicing medicine, teaching, writing, and advocating for women's rights, especially in medical education. Her scientific rebuttal of the popular idea that menstruation made women unsuited to education was influential in the fight for women's educational opportunities. Jacobi was a founding member of the League for Political Education and the Women's Medical Association of New York City, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993. Early life Jacobi was born Mary Corinna Putnam on August 31, 1842 in London, England. She was the daughter of an American father, George Palmer Putnam and British mother, Victorine Haven Putnam, originally from New York City. She was the oldest of eleven children. At the time of Jacobi's birth, the family lived in London because her father George was establishing a branch office for his New York City publishing company, Wiley & Putnam.