{{Short description|Swedish doctor (1872–1964)}} {{Infobox person | name = Ada Nilsson | image = Ada Nilsson 1935.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 21 September 1872 | birth_place = Södra Säms | death_date = {{d-da|23 May 1964|21 September 1872}} | death_place = {{ill|Julita (parish)|lt=Julita|sv|Julita socken}} | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = | education = | employer = | occupation = | title = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | party = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = }} '''Ada Konstantia Nilsson''' (21 September 1872 – 23 May 1964) was an early Swedish woman medical doctor. She was one of the founders of the campaigning magazine ''Tidevarvet'' in 1923.
==Early life and education== Nilsson was born in Södra Säms in 1872. She was brought up in a farmhouse. Her father, who helped to run the textile workers cottage industry, died when she was thirteen and she went to live in Stockholm.<ref name=hh>{{Cite web|url=https://skbl.se/en/article/AdaNilsson|title=skbl.se - Ada Konstantia Nilsson|website=skbl.se|access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref> In 1891 she was one of the first women to take medical training, initially in Uppsala and mainly in Stockholm. She met Lydia Wahlström and Alma Sundquist who were also female pioneers.<ref name=hh/>
== Career == [[File:Fogelstadgruppen (sq cropped).jpg|thumb|left|1920s Left to right: Elisabeth Tamm, Ada Nilsson, Kerstin Hesselgren (sitting), Honorine Hermelin and Elin Wägner ]]
Nilsson and Julia Kinberg, another physician, founded a feminist organization, Frisinnade Kvinnor, in 1914.<ref name=merle18>{{cite thesis |author=Merle Weßel|title=An Unholy Union?: Eugenic Feminism in the Nordic Countries, ca. 1890-1940|location=University of Helsinki|pages=37–38|degree=PhD|year=2018|url=http://hdl.handle.net/10138/233107|hdl=10138/233107}}</ref> She was a member of the Liberal Women's National Association.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Karl Erik Gustafsson|author2=Per Rydén|title=A History of the Press in Sweden|date=2010|publisher=Nordicom |location=Gothenburg|isbn=978-91-86523-08-4|url=http://presshistoria.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-history-of-the-Press-in-Sweden.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213232250/http://presshistoria.se/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/A-history-of-the-Press-in-Sweden.pdf|archive-date=13 February 2015}}</ref>
The magazine ''Tidevarvet'' was founded in 1923<ref>{{cite web|title=Tidevarvet 1923|url=http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinn/digtid/08/1923/index.xml |work=Göteborgs Universitetsbibliotek|access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Tidevarvet cover page|url=http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinndata/digtid/08/1923/tidevarvet1923_1.pdf|access-date=1 October 2019|date=24 November 1923|work=Tidevarvet|archive-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161230230246/http://www.ub.gu.se/kvinndata/digtid/08/1923/tidevarvet1923_1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> by Kerstin Hesselgren, educator Honorine Hermelin, Ada Nilsson, Elisabeth Tamm, a liberal politician, and Elin Wägner, an author.<ref name=len>{{cite news|author=Lene Buchert|title=Hesselgren, Kerstin (1872-1964)|url=http://www.performancemagazine.org/thinkers-on-education/hesselgren-kerstin-1872-1964/|access-date=30 December 2016|work=Performance Magazine}}</ref><ref name="levi">{{cite web|title=Tidevarvsgruppen (The Age Group), Fogelstad-gruppen (The Fogelstad Group) and the newspaper Tidevarvet (The Age.)|url=http://user.tninet.se/~uzt234e/Tidevarvet.htm|work=Hjördis Levin's homepage|access-date=30 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828113234/http://user.tninet.se/~uzt234e/Tidevarvet.htm|archive-date=28 August 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> The founders had a liberal political stance<ref name="levi"/> and were known as the Fogelstad group. Nilsson was one of the principal funders of the project and became editor-in-chief with her new friend Elin Wägner as its first editor. The magazine was to publish until 1936 and for three years (1925-28) the magazine ran a free consultancy but it was difficult to fund.<ref name=hh/>
Nilsson met Aleksandra Kollontaj, a Russian diplomat and later ambassador to Sweden in the early 1930s. Nilsson cared for Kollontaj when her health started to decline and their correspondence is extant.<ref>{{Cite web |title=skbl.se - Aleksandra Mikhajlova Kollontaj |url=https://skbl.se/en/article/AleksandraKollontaj |access-date=2024-10-13 |website=skbl.se |language=en}}</ref>
== Private life and death == Nilsson had a very close relationship with Honorine Hermelin. During the last year of her life Nilsson went to stay at Fogelstad with Hermelin.<ref name=skbl>{{Cite web|url=https://www.skbl.se/en/article/HonorineHermelin|title=skbl.se - Honorine Louise Hermelin|website=www.skbl.se|access-date=28 November 2020}}</ref> Nilsson died in {{ill|Julita (parish)|lt=Julita|sv|Julita socken}}. She was near blind and poor. She was buried in a cemetery near her birthplace.<ref name=hh/> Her life is one of those celebrated in Stockholm's Östermalmstorg metro station by Siri Derkert.<ref name=hh/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0027295_00028#?cv=27&z=44.5565%2C2535.4297%2C3004.892%2C1782.1221&c=&m=&s=&xywh=610%2C2664%2C1958%2C1344 Swedish encyclopedia] * [https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/C0044001_00081?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0#?cv=80&z=584.5592%2C308.7169%2C3442.0495%2C1989.7079 Swedish encyclopedia] * [http://digitalastadsarkivet.stockholm.se/Rotemannen2012/Print.aspx?Id=042730070210 Digital Archive] * [https://libris.kb.se/katalogisering/hftw08f12k833t4 Libris]
==Further reading== * {{SKBL}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nilsson, Ada}} Category:20th-century Swedish women politicians Category:20th-century Swedish medical doctors Category:1872 births Category:1964 deaths Category:Swedish feminists Category:Swedish gynaecologists Category:Swedish magazine founders Category:Women gynaecologists Category:People from Ulricehamn Municipality