María Michelsen de López

María Michelsen de López (née Michelsen Lombana; February 17, 1890 - January 22, 1949) was a Colombian scientist and philanthropist who served as first lady of Colombia from 1934 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1945 as the wife of President Alfonso López Pumarejo. She and María Cristina Arango are the only two women in Colombian history who were both married to a president and the mother of a president. She was the second person to serve in this role during two non-consecutive terms in Colombia's history after Soledad Román de Núñez.

Michelsen de López was the first First Lady with a university degree. She was also notable for being the first to be called First Lady. Defender of the rights of orphans, she was the co-founder of several shelters in Bogotá.

Early life Maria Michelsen Lombana was born into a prestigious family of merchants and bankers. She was the daughter of scientist Carlos María Michelsen Uribe and his wife, Antonia Lombana Buendía y Barreneche.

Her father was the son of a Danish Jewish immigrant, Karl Michelsen Koppel, who, in turn, was related to the German industrialists Kopp Koppel, founders of the Bavaria brewery. Michelsen was the first Danish consul in Colombia following his commercial success in his native country. despite the fact that the figure already existed (tacitly) since the time of the republic with Simón Bolívar. From that moment on, the wife of the president of the day began to gain greater social importance.