Charlotte Fairbanks

Charlotte Fairbanks (December 11, 1871 – February 15, 1932) was an American medical doctor and chemist. She earned a B.A. from Smith college in 1894, and graduated with a Ph.D. in chemistry from Yale at the age of 25. By this time she had published three papers discussing analytical chemistry. She was the granddaughter of Thaddeus Fairbanks, who was a well-known inventor at the time. Fairbanks earned her M.D. and became a practicing physician in 1902. At the beginning of WWI, Fairbanks joined the American Women's Hospital unit in France and was stationed in Luzancy, France, where she spent a year as the chief surgeon at the hospital. For her efforts, she was awarded the Medal of French Gratitude, and was awarded French citizenship. She returned after the war and opened a practice in her hometown of St. Johnsbury, where she was an active member of the community.

Early life and education Charlotte Fairbanks was born on December 11, 1871, to Reverend Harry Fairbanks and Lady Fairbanks in St. Johnsbury Vermont. Her grandfather, Thaddeus Fairbanks, was well known in the community for inventing a more accurate weighing scale, known as the Fairbanks scales. Fairbanks graduated with a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1894 at the age of twenty-three. In one report on the hospital, M. Louise Hurrell remarked on the Fairbanks and her job operating on a particularly mangled hand of an American soldier. "However, realizing that anyone can amputate, but only a clever surgeon can save, an attempt was made at preservation…our surgeon put together the fragments, and the way in which she and our nurses worked over the hand for succeeding weeks only the patient and themselves can tell." For her efforts in France, Fairbanks was awarded the Medal of French Gratitude and an honorary French citizenship.