Thora Maria Fredrika Hildegard Björck (1 May 1847 – 7 April 1920) was the first
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
woman to complete an academic degree.Hypokrates kjolar . Ergo.ronne.se.Studentlivet förändrar ditt liv UNT.se. She is today considered a female academic pioneer in Sweden. Björck received the opportunity to enlist and graduate with degrees from both
Lund
Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
and
Uppsala
Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
. She also had an interest in literature and worked against prostitution.Digitaliserade svenska dagstidningar ". Kungl. biblioteket - National Library of Sweden.
Biography
Hildegard Björck was born on 1 May 1847 in Bro,
Värmland
Värmland () also known as Wermeland, is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are ''Va ...
. She was the daughter of surveyor Carl Emanuel Björck and his wife Anna Charlotte Roman. Anna died when Hildegard was just four years old and her father died in 1869 when she was 22 years old. The year after her father's death an opportunity arose for Swedish women to get a
studentexamen
Studentexamen (Swedish for "students' examination" or "students' degree"), earlier also ''mogenhetsexamen'' ("maturity examination") was the name of the university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and r ...
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in June 1872 and the following year entered
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...
graduating with a medico-philosophy degree in 1873 and a medicine degree in 1879. In the spring of 1880, Björck was accepted at
Lund University
, motto = Ad utrumque
, mottoeng = Prepared for both
, established =
, type = Public research university
, budget = SEK 9 billion But after suffering from
measles
Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...
and additional hearing problems, she stopped her studies and never became a licensed doctor.
Björck became an informal assistant doctor to anatomy professor Carl Fredrik Naumann, and her part uncle who was a medicine doctor who lived in Stockholm. After both men died from old age, Björck worked as a private carer to a number of individuals in France and England. One of them, Julia Ewelöf, became a close friend and they lived together in
in the same dwelling until Björck's death on 7 April 1920.
Björck's ashes were given to her relatives in Sweden in 1928, and she was buried in the Björck family grave at the
Skogskyrkogården
Skogskyrkogården (; ) is a cemetery located in the Gamla Enskede district south of central Stockholm, Sweden. Its design, by Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz, reflects the development of architecture from Nordic Classicism to mature function ...
cemetery in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...