Sophia Jex-Blake (1840-1912) led a long and difficult struggle to open the medical profession to women in Great Britain. After many years of trying to gain admittance to a Scottish medical school, she succeeded in getting Parliament to guarantee women's right to a medical education and testing. She became licensed at the age of 37 and opened a private practice in Scotland the following year, becoming the country's first female doctor. Her tenacious fight for women to have the right to become doctors opened the door for women in the medical profession.

Sophia Jex-Blake was born to a wealthy and religious family in Sussex, England, on January 21, 1840. Her father, Thomas Jex-Blake, was a retired attorney. Her mother, Maria Jex-Blake, was often sickly. Jex-Blake's parents were devoted to their children and ran a strict religious household in which dancing, theater-going, and other "worldly amusements" were forbidden. The family's older children...