In 1872, Alfred Hegar (1830-1914), the Freiburg professor of gynecology and obstetrics, performed oophorectomies (removal of the ovaries) for the first time to artificially induce menopause in women. The discourse surrounding the effects of this operation, which was used for various somatic as well as psychological conditions, such as hysteria, occupied the field of gynecology for over 25 years. This historical-scientific investigation analyzes, against the backdrop of contemporary social, scientific, and microsociological conditions, how and for what reasons the so-called Hegar operation initially spread rapidly and was later abandoned by the emerging field of gynecology a few years later.