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Netherlands' first female professor

On 10 February 2017, Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ celebrated ‘100 Years of Female Professors’. Exactly a century earlier, Johanna Westerdijk held her inaugural address as the Netherlands' first female professor. Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ had appointed her as Professor of Phytopathology (the study of plant diseases). In 1930, she also became a professor at the ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ of Amsterdam.

Leadership

In addition to her professorial roles, Johanna became Director of the Willie Commelin Scholten Phytopathology Laboratory in 1906 and of the Central Agency for Fungus Cultures (now the CBS KNAW Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute) in 1907. Under her leadership, the institute developed the world’s largest and most diverse reference collection of living fungal cultures.  

Equal opportunities

Johanna was a keen champion of equal opportunities in science. She supervised 56 PhD candidates, of which nearly half were women. She was a striking personality who enjoyed a party, but was also a respected academic of international standing. In her research, she sought – and established – close ties with major social challenges of her time such as Dutch elm disease and potato blight. She laid the scientific foundations for phytopathology and mycology, an ever-topical field that will remain relevant far into the future.

Read more about Johanna the phytopathologist.