Google doodle celebrates 153rd birth anniversary of India’s first woman doctor Anandi Gopal Joshi

Google on Saturday, March 31, paid tributes to Anandi Gopal Joshi - India's first woman doctor - on her 153rd birth anniversary with a doodle.

The doodle honouring Joshi is the creation of Kashmira Sarode - a Bengaluru-based artist who portrayed the former celebrating her degree in medicine.

Google wrote in its blog, "In 1886, a young doctor stepped off a ship from America, eager to take up the role of physician-in-charge of the female ward at Kolhapur's Albert Edward Hospital. Not only was she India's first female doctor, but she was only 19 years old at the time. Her name was Anandi Gopal Joshi, and her story is one of courage and perseverance."

Joshi was born on March 31, 1865, in the then Poona in British India and got married at the age of nine to Gopalrao Joshi, a widower who was 20 years older than her. Gopalrao, however, was a man who had progressive thinking and was in favour of women's education. Her original name was Yamuna and it was her husband who had renamed her as Anandi.

Joshi gave birth to a son at the age of 14 but the baby did not survive more than 10 days because of lack of adequate medical care. This tragedy inspired Joshi to become a physician. She earned her medical degree from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania in the US and returned to India in 1886 amid a grand welcome. She was appointed as the chief physician of the female ward of the Albert Edward Hospital in Kolhapur by the princely state.

Joshi died of tuberculosis in Poona in 1887 at the age of 22. A crater in the planet of Venus has been named after Joshi, the Google blog added.

OneIndia News