How do you get a PhD in a field nobody else has a PhD in?

Question

Til about Dr David Clutton who’s the only person with PhD in Gin, however stupid that sounds.
How do you get a phd in a discipline where there’s no-one to grant you that phd? How was it done in the past?

In: Other

Answer 1

A PhD diploma will list the university, college and usually the department, but not the specific field. Like “The faculty of the University of X college of arts and sciences awards a PhD to Joe Smith in the field of Chemistry” There’s nothing stopping the college from listing something like “Gin” on the diploma, but why would they?

And it’s common to describe your PhD in the specific field rather than just the name of the department. Like “Her PhD is in theoretical nuclear physics” but the diploma doesn’t say that.