It was thought that merely having women around might disrupt the serious intellectual work of men, she adds. The celibate male tradition of medieval Christian monasteries continued at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge until late into the nineteenth century. Professors weren’t allowed to marry. Cambridge would wait until 1921 to award degrees to women. Similarly, Harvard Medical School refused to admit women until 1945. The first woman applied for a place almost a century earlier.
Professors being forbidden to marry gives a different perspective on Isaac Newton never marrying
