Google is celebrating the 153rd birth anniversary of Anandi Gopal Joshi, India's first female doctor, with a doodle. Anandi earned her medical degree from the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania (now known as Drexel University College of Medicine) at the age of 21, just a year before her life was tragically cut short by tuberculosis.
Anandi was born in Yamuna, in Thane district of Maharashtra on March 31, 1865. She was married at the age of 9 to Gopalrao Joshi, a man many years her senior. At 14 she gave birth to her first child, and it was the death of her 10-day-old baby, due to lack of medical care, that encouraged her to study medicine and make a difference in her own country.
Her husband, known to be a progressive man for that era, played an important part in her early education, teaching her to read and write. Anandi lived in Calcutta for a while, before setting sail for the United States while still in her teens. Anandi battled ill health at the time but that didn't stop her from pursuing her higher education in a foreign country.
In Pennsylvania, Anandi completed her thesis on "Obstetrics among the Aryan Hindus". Following her graduation, Queen Victoria reportedly sent her a congratulatory message.
Anandi returned to India in 1886. The State of Kolhapur appointed her as the physician-in-charge of the female ward of the local Albert Edward Hospital. Months after taking on her new role, shortly before her 22nd birthday, Anandi succumbed to tuberculosis. A crater in Venus is named after her.
The doodle, created by Bangalore-based artist Kashmira Sarode , portrays Anandi obtaining her degree, her green flowing sari proudly representing where she has come from.
