Famous British Women Physicians

This ranking is based on an algorithm that combines various factors, including the votes of our users and search trends on the internet.

Rosalind Franklin

(Chemist)

Birthdate: July 25, 1920

Sun Sign: Leo

Birthplace: Notting Hill, London, England

Died: April 16, 1958

Chemist and X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin is remembered for her pathbreaking X-ray diffraction studies of DNA, which helped in the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the double helix structure of DNA by Francis Crick, James Watson, and Maurice Wilkins later. She also worked on the molecular structures of viruses.

Cicely Saunders

(Nurse)

Birthdate: June 22, 1918

Sun Sign: Cancer

Birthplace: Barnet, Hertfordshire, England

Died: July 14, 2005

A pioneer of the hospice movement, English nurse and social worker Cicely Saunders not only developed the palliative care approach but also established the St. Christopher’s Hospice in London. A supporter of medical ethics, she was against voluntary euthanasia. She won numerous awards, such as the Templeton Prize.

Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

(Mayor of Aldeburgh)

Birthdate: June 9, 1836

Sun Sign: Gemini

Birthplace: Whitechapel

Died: December 17, 1917

The first female doctor and surgeon of Britain, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson was initially denied admission to medical schools because of her gender and had thus started studying privately. Soon after joining the Marylebone Dispensary as an attendant, she contributed to the formation of the New Hospital for Women.

Philippa Perry

(Psychotherapist, Novelist)

Birthdate: November 1, 1957

Sun Sign: Scorpio

Birthplace: Warrington

Sophia Jex-Blake

(English Physician, Feminist and the First Practising Female Doctor in Scotland)

Birthdate: January 21, 1840

Sun Sign: Aquarius

Birthplace: Hastings, Sussex, England

Died: January 7, 1912

Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake was an English teacher, physician, and feminist. A pioneer of medical education for women, Jex-Blake was the first woman to practise medicine in Scotland. She was also involved in the establishment of two medical schools for women in Edinburgh and London at a time when no medical schools were training women.