Marie Spångberg Holth

Marie Spångberg (23 November 1865 – 23 November 1942) was the first female physician in Norway, after she graduated from the Royal Frederiks University of Christiania in 1893.^[1][2][3] She studied obstetrics and gynecology in Germany before returning to Oslo and opening a practice. She was appointed by the government to work in the Department of Venereal Diseases.^[4]

Portrait of Holth by Asta Nørregaard, 1913

She was the daughter of a poor watchmaker's widow.^[3] Eventually she married ophthalmologist Søren Holth and had five daughters, but two of them died at age one, and after that she gave up her practice.^[5] However, she continued to work in the Healthcare Commission until 1920, when she had to stop for health reasons.^[6]