A 102-year-old German woman is thought to be the world’s oldest to receive a doctorate.<br /><br /> Ingeborg Syllm-Rapoport was not allowed to defend her doctoral thesis in 1938 under the Nazis because she was part-Jewish.<br /><br /> The neonatologist, a specialist in caring for newborns, cleared the final hurdle last month by passing an oral exam. <br /><br /> Her PhD thesis had been in the field of diphtheria. In order to prepare for the test, she enlisted the help of friends to catch up on 80-years worth of new developments in the subject.<br /><br /> Three professors from Hamburg University’s medical faculty travelled to her sitting room in East Berlin where the test was held.<br /><br /> “She was brilliant, and not only for her age, said Uwe Koch-Gromus, the dean of the facility.<br /><br /> “We were impressed with her intellectual alertness, and left speechless by her expertise – also with regard to modern medicine,” he added. <br /><br /> “It was a matter of principle,” Ingeborg said. “I didn’t want to defend my thesis for my own sake. After all,
