Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi

Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi
Mary Corinna Putnam Jacobi
Born	Mary Corinna Putnam August 31, 1842 London, UK
Died	June 10, 1906(1906-06-10) (aged 63) New York City
Nationality	American
Education	Faculté de Médecine de Paris
Known for	Medicine
Spouse(s)	Abraham Jacobi (m. 1873)
Children	Marjorie Jacobi McAneny
Parent(s)	George Palmer Putnam and Victorine Haven
Family	(brothers) George Haven Putnam, John Bishop Putnam, Herbert Putnam

Mary Corinna Putnam (August 31, 1842 – June 10, 1906) was an American physician, writer, and suffragist. She crusaded for the integration of clinical and laboratory studies. Disparaging anecdotal evidence and traditional approaches, she demanded scientific research on every question of the day. As a leading feminist, she rejected the traditional wisdom about the weaknesses of women. Her work with reformers and suffragists made her a leading spokesman for women's health during the Progressive Era.

The daughter of George Palmer Putnam and Victorine Haven Putnam, she was born in London, where her father had been living since 1841 while establishing a branch office for his New York City publishing company, Wiley & Putnam. She was the oldest of eleven children.

Jacobi's parents returned to the United States in 1848, and she spent her childhood and adolescence in New York City. She got most of her early education at home along with two years at a new public school for girls on 12th Street where she graduated in 1859. She published a story, "Found and Lost," in the April 1860 issue of Atlantic Monthly, and a year later she published another. After her 1859 graduation, she studied Greek, and science, and medicine privately with Elizabeth Blackwell and others. Her father thought medicine a "repulsive" profession, but ultimately supported her endeavor.

Jacobi served during the Civil War as a medical aide. She graduated from the New York College of Pharmacy in 1863 and earned her M.D. from the Female (later Women's) Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1864. A short internship at New England Hospital for Women and Children showed her she needed further study before practicing medicine. She left for Paris to apply to the École de Médecine of the University of Paris. After much negotiation and thanks to the help of the psychiatrist Benjamin Ball, she was admitted as the first woman student. She graduated in July 1871, the second woman to get a degree there, and received second prize for her thesis.