author
Edward H. (Edward Hammond) Clarke
1820–1877
A 19th-century American physician and Harvard Medical School professor, remembered both for his medical writing and for a book that stirred lasting debate about women's education. His work offers a revealing window into the scientific ideas and social arguments of his era.
1 Audiobook
Sex in Education; or, A Fair Chance for Girls
by Edward H. (Edward Hammond) Clarke
About the author
Born in Norton, Massachusetts, in 1820, Edward Hammond Clarke became a physician, teacher, and medical writer whose career was closely tied to Boston and Harvard. He studied at Harvard, later joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School, and built a reputation as a respected doctor in the mid-19th century.
Clarke is best known today for Sex in Education; or, A Fair Chance for the Girls (1873). In that book, he argued that higher education placed unhealthy strain on women, a claim that was widely discussed and strongly challenged even in his own time. Because of that controversy, he is often remembered as an important figure in the history of medicine, education, and debates over women's rights.
He also wrote on broader medical subjects and contributed to professional discussions of health and medical practice. Reading Clarke now can be especially interesting not because all of his conclusions endured, but because his work captures how medicine and culture shaped one another in 19th-century America.