Hildegard Björck – the forgotten pioneer

Hildegard Björck was born in Bro parish, now part of Säffle municipality, on 1 May, 1847, as the daughter of commission surveyor Carl Emanuel Björck and Anna Charlotta Roman – the daughter of district judge Roman in Karlstad. The family lived happily on Remmenetorp, an estate of 113 hectares (Åkerblom, 2020) However, the happiness soon came to an end when Anna Charlotta passed away. By then, Hildegard was only four years old. (Tersmeden, 2013)

Early on, Hildegard demonstrated determination and purpose. In Hildegard Björck – a Forgotten Name (Nilsson, 1926), there is an episode where, as a child, she asks the chambermaids in her home to teach her how to scrub the floors. When they didn’t have time, they found Hildegard later that day diligently scrubbing the floor in an outhouse.

Perhaps it was this determination that led the ambitious 25-year-old to obtain a high school diploma from Nya Elementarskolan in Stockholm in 1872, only two years after it became acceptable for women.

However, Hildegard had no plans to end her academic journey there. In January 1873, she enrolled at Uppsala University, becoming only the second woman after Betty Pettersson. A little over a year later, in May 1874, Hildegard Björck completed her medical philosophy degree, which was highlighted in the local press, as noted by Carl Frängsmyr in the book “Uppsala University 1852–1916” (2010). Upsala-Posten pointed out that it was the first time “an academic degree was conferred to a woman.”

This fact has been largely forgotten, and instead, the honour of being the first woman to earn an academic degree has been attributed to Betty Pettersson, who graduated in 1875. According to Frängsmyr (2010), this mistake occurred because the Academic Society of Educated Women (ABKF) celebrated the 50th anniversary of Pettersson’s degree in 1925, which was then mistakenly believed to be the first degree conferred in Sweden.

Hildegard Björck continued to be a trailblazer in the following years. She was awarded a newly established scholarship for female medical students, which she held until 1881. From 1880, Björck continued her studies at Lund University, becoming the first woman enrolled there. However, before that, she obtained her Bachelor of Medicine degree from Uppsala University in 1879 as the first woman in Sweden.

Hildegard Björck’s academic journey at Lund University, however, seems to have come to a sad ending. Due to contracting measles, her hearing deteriorated to the extent that she never had the opportunity to complete her licentiate examination, and she discontinued her studies. Despite this, she continued to specialise in eye, nose, and throat diseases, even though she never had the opportunity to become a licensed physician (Nilsson, 1926).

Hildegard Björck passed away on 7 April in Lausanne, Switzerland, after struggling with heart problems in her final years.

Robin Widing