Johanna Westerdijk (1881–1961) – the impact of the grand lady of phytopathology in the Netherlands from 1917 to 2017

One century ago, on February 10, 1917, Johanna Westerdijk delivered her inaugural speech at Utrecht University entitled “New directions in phytopathological research”. By doing so, she became the very first female professor in the Netherlands and set the stage for many female professors who followed her example. Besides her remarkable performance as a role model for women in science, Johanna Westerdijk was also a pioneer in the global science field of phytopathology, which rapidly emerged at the end of the 19th century and reached maturity during the course of her scientific career.