Children's doctor Emil Feer gives a lesson in 1924. Among the students are several women.
Human-size female anatomical model from c.1910 for studying internal organs.
Physiology exercise book, complete with diagrams, from student Friedrich Goll, from 1852.
A caricature from a student magazine from 1917. Students worked from Monday 6am to Saturday afternoon.
In 1900 female students were not welcomed by their male peers, as this caricature shows.
A collection of photos such as this one dating from 1943 shows how at that time some characteristics, such as a tuft of hair, were seen as indicating a "degenerate personality type".
Eye, ear and nose models.
A journey into the history of medicine.
This content was published on
Pictures from the medical history archives at Zurich University, show what it was like to study medicine in the old days. They were displayed as part of the university’s 175th anniversary celebrations in 2008. (All photos from the medical history archive).
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.