Marthe Condat

Marthe Louise Lydie Condat (July 18, 1886 – October 24, 1939) was a French physician. In 1923, she became the first woman to pass the competitive medical university teaching qualification known as the , and went on to became the first woman in France to receive a professorship with a chair in French medicine following her appointment at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy in Toulouse. She has a street named after her in Paris and in 2026 it was announced that her name is to be added to the Eiffel Tower.

Early life and education Condat was born in Graulhet, Tarn on July 19, 1886. Her mother was Marie Athénaïs Victorine, a milliner and her father Georges Condat was a haberdasher.

Marie-Louise Roques, head of the Lafont boarding school for girls, commented on Condat's outstanding performance in the brevet examination, despite her young age. In 1903 Condat passed the literature baccalauréat with honours and the following year she passed the mathematics baccalauréat, also with honours.

In the PCN preparatory examination for entrance to university studies, Condat was the most successful candidate and went on to study in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toulouse, receiving the university's Adrien Gaussail scientific award in both 1906 and 1907.

Career Condat was an intern at the hospitals of Paris from May 1, 1910, to May 1, 1914. During the four-year residency, she specialised in pediatry. At the time, very few women were working in the medical profession in France and most were foreigners. to compensate for the absence of male staff drafted for military service in World War I. Thanks to her untiring involvement and total lack of vacations, the hospital was able to function normally during the war years. As a result, she was awarded the Honorary Public Assistance Medal (Médaille d'Honneur d'Assistance Publique) for this work as well as the Medical Academy award (Prix de l'Académie de Médicine).

She was one of six women honoured in an exhibition by Haute-Garonne Departmental Council in 2023.

In Toulouse, an auditorium at the Paul Sabatier University is named after Condat.

In 2026, Condat was announced as one of 72 historical women in STEM whose names have been proposed to be added to the 72 men already celebrated on the Eiffel Tower. The plan was announced by the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo following the recommendations of a committee led by Isabelle Vauglin of Femmes et Sciences and Jean-François Martins, representing the operating company which runs the Eiffel Tower.

Publications

Leucocytolyse et fragilité leucocytaire.