{"id":22442,"date":"2020-09-10T10:22:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T08:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/?p=22442"},"modified":"2020-09-10T14:47:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-10T12:47:55","slug":"city-square-named-after-vilma-hugonnai-the-first-hungarian-woman-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/2020\/09\/city-square-named-after-vilma-hugonnai-the-first-hungarian-woman-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"City square named after Vilma Hugonnai, the first Hungarian woman to become physician"},"content":{"rendered":"
The public square located next to Semmelweis University\u2019s Outer Clinical Block will from now on bear the name of Vilma Hugonnai, the first Hungarian woman to become a doctor, who fought all her life to have women recognized as a part of scientific life.<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cIt is always risky being the first; it requires faith, humility and commitment. Vilma Hugonnai, the first Hungarian woman to become a medical doctor, received her degree in Z\u00fcrich, which she later defended at the legal predecessor of today\u2019s Semmelweis University, so that she would be able to practice her profession in her home country,\u201d noted Dr. B\u00e9la Merkely, rector of Semmelweis University, at the ceremony inaugurating the new name of the square. He added that Hugonnai\u2019s achievement paved the way for later women doctors at Semmelweis University, such as Sarolta Steinberger, Margit Genersich, Ir\u00e9n Bar\u00e1t and Margit Gozony. The rector pointed out that today, two-thirds of university students and more than 70% of its workers are women, who will benefit greatly from the Family-Friendly University Program launched this September, which aims to help all workers balance their private and work lives. In addition, the university has been honoring young women medical teachers and researchers with the Vilma Hugonnai Award since 2010. Rector Merkely noted that Hugonnai now joins the line-up of other notable people at the university who have public spaces named after them, such as J\u00e1nos Balassa, Mih\u00e1ly Lenhoss\u00e9k and S\u00e1ndor Kor\u00e1nyi.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> L\u00e1szl\u00f3n\u00e9 Radv\u00e1nyi Andr\u00e1s, the great-grandniece of Vilma Hugonnai was also present at the ceremony, who noted that her great-grandfather K\u00e1lm\u00e1n Hugonnai (1843-1918) was the older brother of Vilma. She noted that the Hugonnai name continued through the generations until her mother, who was also named Vilma Hugonnai and always remembered\u00a0 the story of he father\u2019s aunt with affection. Recalling Vilma Hugonnai\u2019s life story, she noted that the first Hungarian woman medical doctor received her medical degree at the age of 32, but her diploma was not accepted in Hungary for a long time, only when she was 50 years old. A government minister at the time told her to take a midwife course and practice that profession, as it was inconceivable for a woman to receive a medical diploma. Hugonnai had a difficult life, but always stood up for the protection of children and women, and even published a book, which the family still keeps in their library, L\u00e1szl\u00f3n\u00e9 Radv\u00e1nyi Andr\u00e1s said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Andr\u00e1s Pik\u00f3, mayor of the 8th district of Budapest where the square is located, remembered Hugonnai by recalling her most famous quote: \u201cMy sword is science; my shield is work.\u201d He also noted that the first doctor he ever had was a woman, which is thanks to the achievement of Hugonnai. Dr. G\u00e1bor Er\u0151ss, the district\u2019s deputy mayor, pointed out that there are only very few public spaces in Budapest, and around the world, are named after women, and emphasized that there is still a great need today for women to follow the example of people like Hugonnai, who fought for the equal rights of women.<\/p>\n

\u00c1d\u00e1m Szab\u00f3
\nTranslation: Tam\u00e1s Deme
\nPhoto: Attila Kov\u00e1cs \u2013 Semmelweis University<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Also present at the ceremony near the Outer Clinical Block was Hugonnai’s great-grandniece.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101535,"featured_media":22447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-semmelweis-world"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101535"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22442"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22452,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22442\/revisions\/22452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/semmelweis.hu\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}