Kühne at the University of Heidelberg on the recommendation of Professor Alexander Goette at Strasbourg. The university accepted her, but Willhelm Kühne refused to allow her in lectures and laboratories. He is reported to have said that he would never allow "skirts" in his classes. However, when a colleague asked him whether, if at the end of the course she could pass the examination, he would grant her the degree, he jokingly replied that he would. And so for six semesters, she had to study physiology independent of the classroom and of hands-on laboratory projects, using only his assistants' notes and lab sketches. Finally, a four-hour oral examination by Kühne's academic committee, proved her worthiness. The "summa cum laude" degree, the highest honors, could not go to a woman, so Kühne invented a new phrase: "Multa Cum Laude Superavit" in English meaning "she overcame with much praise." Hyde completed the PhD at Heidelberg in 1896, the first woman to receive one for this type of work. Kühne recommended her for a position at the Heidelberg-supported research program at the Naples Marine Biological Laboratory in Naples Italy, where she studied the nature and function of salivary glands. She was a life member of this organization, and its secretary from 1897 to 1900. Notes References Attribution: External links 1837 births 1900 deaths 19th-century German people Foreign Members of the Royal Society German physiologists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Physicians from Hamburg University of Göttingen alumni Academic staff of Heidelberg University Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala