Louisa Aldrich-Blake – Google Honors British doctor’s 154th Birthday with Doodle

Google has devoted its Doodle to extraordinary British doctor Louisa Aldrich-Blake’s 154th Birthday. Excellent art made by doodler Lydia Nichols has graced the search engine giant’s main page. The extraordinary doctor is known to have created surgical techniques that were relatively revolutionary and spared lives of warriors during World War I. Her well-known motto “When you start a thing you must finish it,” is the thing that she lived by. She has likewise been cheered for breaking down barriers for ladies entering the medical profession bringing in a revolution of sorts.

On this day, August 15, 1865, Britain’s first female surgeon was born and when she turned 22, she was enrolled in the London School of Medicine for Women. She was no regular student yet was a scholar who earned a gold medal for surgery in 1893 and an M.D. in 1894. She at that point made history by becoming the first woman certified as Master of Surgery in English history a year later.

Her remarkable work is World War 1 was exceptionally noted, She was known to even spend her free time working with the Anglo-French Red Cross in a field hospital near Paris. She was affectionately called by patients “Madame Générale.” Another notable work of her’s was her 1903 paper that discussions about a creative treatment for rectal cancer were published in the British Medical Journal. An indispensable part of her life from 1910 to 1925 was devoted to practicing surgery at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital and working at the Royal Free Hospital. Indeed, even there she became the first female surgical registrar, anesthetist, and lecturer on anesthetics.

During the First World War, Dr. Louisa Aldrich-Blake spent her holidays working with the Anglo-French Red Cross in a field hospital near Paris where patients called her “Madame Générale.” Defying critics who questioned whether ladies had a place in military hospitals, she personally wrote to every female doctor she knew, urging them to volunteer and inspiring numerous young ladies to enroll in medical school.

In 1925, Dr. Louisa Aldrich-Blake was named a Dame of the British Empire, and a statue was raised in her honor near the headquarters of the British Medical Association.