Google Doodle honors Sabire Aydemir, the first female Turkish veterinary doctor, on her 112th birthday

Google Doodle celebrates the 112th birthday of the first female Turkish veterinary doctor Sabire Aydemir on February 1, 2022.

Who was Sabire Aydemir?

Sabire Aydemir was born in the Inebolu ilçe (district) of Kastamonu Province, Ottoman Empire on the 1st of February in 1910.

She finished elementary school in her hometown. During a time when women were not urged to seek after higher education, Aydemir went to the Erenköy Girls’ High School Istanbul in 1933 and set her focus on a career in medicine. She promoted her studies at Ankara University Veterinary Faculty.

Sabire Aydemir’s graduation from secondary school corresponds with the first-year female students who were admitted to the School of Veterinary Medicine at Ankara University. She finished her education in Veterinary medicine in 1937 as the only female student.

Despite social challenges, Sabire Aydemir graduated as Turkey’s first woman veterinarian in 1937. She served in the Refik Saydam Public Hygiene Institute for five years on bacteriology and procured the title of bacteriology expert. She was married and the mother of two, a son and a daughter.

Later Sabire Aydemir served in Pendik Bacteriology institute in Istanbul and Etlik Veterinary Control and Research Institute in Ankara. Then, she was elected to serve in another city, and she was appointed chief of the Rabies Laboratory in the Veterinary Control and Research Institute in Samsun.

Thusly of-the-century Turkey, conditions in the field of veterinary medicine were a long way from agreeable most vets attended to cattle in the tough countryside just available by horseback. Her career bloomed as a laboratory assistant in bacteriological research a field in which she soon became an expert. Aydemir spent a lifetime promoting animal health and welfare, retiring as an expert at Atakum’s Veterinary Control Research Institute.

On 1 December 1984, which was the 50th anniversary of full suffrage for Turkish women, she was welcome to the Turkish parliament for getting a plaque for being the first woman in a profession. To honor her pioneering achievements, the Turkish government awarded Aydemir with the First Female Veterinarian of the Republic of Turkey plaque in 1984.

Sabire Aydemir passed on in 1991. Also in 2016, she was awarded the Turkish Veterinary Medical Association Honor Award posthumously.

On February 1, 2022, Google featured a Doodle on its homepage for celebrating Sabire Aydemir’s 112th Birthday.