Bring on the portr[AI]ts!
untaken pictures from Bonn
From April 2025, the exhibition “Bring on the portr[AI]ts!” by the Central Equal Opportunities Officer of the University of Bonn and the Institute of Photography will be showing missed pictures of female scientists from Bonn in the Bonn University Museum. There you can see pictures that were unfortunately never taken. Artificial intelligence (AI) makes this possible.
With the help of AI, Berlin-based science photographer Gesine Born has put twelve outstanding female scientists from various faculties at the University of Bonn in the digital spotlight - using the eyes of artificial intelligence. With the help of state-of-the-art AI technologies, old portraits are reinterpreted and contextualized to make the significant scientific achievements of those portrayed visually tangible.
The Equal Opportunities Officer at the University of Bonn, Gabriele Alonso Rodriguez, says about the intention of the exhibition: "This exhibition is a reminder of how many women in science have remained almost invisible for years and still remain so today, despite their outstanding contributions to research. We now want to change that."
Opening film of the exhibition, AI-generated images, animated with LUMA AI
Das Video zeigt, wie die Bilder entstanden sind.
April 10 to May 25, 2025
University Museum in the main building of the University of Bonn
Regina-Pacis-Weg 1 (Entrance at Kaiserplatz), 53113 Bonn
Wednesday to Sunday from 12 to 5 pm
Admission is free.
Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen
1872 – 1955
Frida Busch
1868 – 1961
The untaken picture shows Frida Busch (left) and Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen (right) celebrating their successful graduation together.
input AI: [Foto Edenhuizen and Busch] celebrating their doctorate in front of the university of Bonn, hugging each other, wet plate fotography from 1910 --s 250 --v 6.1
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen was Germany's first female gynecologist in private practice and (along with Frida Busch) the first female doctoral graduate at the University of Bonn's Faculty of Medicine.
Born in 1872, she grew up at a time when women's access to education was severely limited. The social status of her wealthy family enabled her to receive an education, and she subsequently attended the secondary school courses of the women's rights activist, Helene Lange. Despite some resistance, she was able to pass her A-levels in 1898 after fighting for her admission with her classmates by means of a petition.1 At that time, women were only granted the precarious status of guest students, which jeopardized their academic success.2 Hermine Edenhuizen and her friend Frida Busch studied together in Berlin, Zurich, and Halle before transferring to the University of Bonn. In 1903, they became the first women to receive a doctorate from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn.
After completing her doctorate, Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen worked as a trainee in Bern, among other places, but returned to Bonn in 1906, where she was the first woman to take up an assistant position at the university's women's clinic. In 1911, she opened her own practice in Berlin. Her work as a gynecologist not only included medical care, but also social support for women - such as founding a home for women with unwanted pregnancies and campaigning for the right of bodily self-determination and for the abolition of § 218.3
She also established feminist standards in her marriage to Otto Heusler. They entered into a marriage contract that enabled her to pursue her profession independently and have control over her own assets.4 Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen was a pioneer in her time and fought for women's rights and self-determination both as a doctor and as an activist.
1 Prahm (2012): 45ff. 2 Busch (o.J.): 2. 3 Busch (o.J.): 4. 4 Prahm (2012): 104f.
List of sources:
Busch, Isabel (o.J.): Hermine Edenhuizen, URL: https://jimdo-storage.freetls.fastly.net/file/bbed62ca-30ea-4d4b-a614-a26b6119345f/HERMINE%20EDENHUIZEN.pdf; [Abruf: 10.01.2025].
Prahm, Heyo (2012): Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen: Die erste deutsche Frauenärztin. Lebenserinnerungen im Kampf um den ärztlichen Beruf der Frau, Verlag Barabara Budrich: Opladen, Berlin & Farmington Hills.
Foto: Archiv Haus der Frauengeschichte/Urheber*in unbekannt/ 1903
Frida Busch
Frida Busch was (along with Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen) the first doctoral student at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn.
Frida Busch was born into a family of doctors with close ties to the University of Bonn. She thus had easier access to a higher education than most women at the time, yet it remained a hard-fought journey. Similar to Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen, Frida Busch was first privately schooled, and then attended a girls’ secondary school in Bonn.1 Frida Busch then transferred to Berlin, to attend the secondary school courses of the women’s rights activist Helene Lange, where she met Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen. Despite political opposition to her and her fellow students’ admission, she was allowed to sit for the A-level examinations in Berlin. With her diploma in hand, she followed in her family’s footsteps and began to study medicine. To do so, Frida Busch went to Zurich, as women in Switzerland had already been granted permission to attend university in 1864. Unlike in Germany, women’s attendance at universities had already been established, and there was no disparaging behaviour from fellow students or teachers.2
Nevertheless, Frida Busch moved to Halle in 1899 to continue her studies. There, she was again confronted with a hostile attitude towards female university students. Strategically using her family connections, Frida Busch transferred, together with Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen, to the University of Bonn where they received a general permission to audit and thus no longer needed to depend on the capriciousness of individual lecturers.3 In 1903, Frida Busch successfully completed the state examination, followed by the crowning achievement of being awarded her doctorate.4 After her receiving her doctorate, Frida Busch briefly worked for a paediatrician in Dresden, until she married her former teacher, Prof. Dr. Corssen, in 1905.5 The wedding and birth of her two children marked the end of her scientific career as a medical doctor.
1 Koslowski (1996): 116. 2 Koslowski (1996): 116. 3 Koslowski (1996): 116. 4 Prahm (2012): 82f. 5 Prahm (2012): 90.
List of sources:
Koslowski, Angela (1996): Frida Busch, In: Kuhn, Annette et.al. (Hrsg.): 100 Jahre Frauenstudium. Frauen der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Göttingen: Verlag die Werkstatt.
Prahm, Heyo (2012): Hermine Heusler-Edenhuizen: Die erste deutsche Frauenärztin. Lebenserinnerungen im Kampf um den ärztlichen Beruf der Frau, Verlag Barabara Budrich: Opladen, Berlin & Farmington Hills.
Elvira Fölzer
1868 – 1937
The untaken picture shows Elvira Fölzer at an archaeological site during a phase in her life when she no longer had any access to academia.
input AI: [Foto Elvira Fölzer] standing proud as a female archaeologist, looking directly in the camera, as a 70 year old, on an bexcavation side with antic shards and ruins, photography from 1920, leica style, film gain --s 250 --v 6.1
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Elvira Fölzer was an archaeologist and, in 1906, the first woman to receive a doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Bonn.
Her financial independence, thanks to an inheritance from her deceased father, a wealthy Hamburg merchant who died in 1893, enabled her to undertake academic studies.1 She began her studies in Leipzig in 1899 and moved to Bonn in 1902, where she completed her doctorate under Professor Georg Loeschke with a dissertation entitled, The Hydria, a Contribution to Greek Vase Studies. At the time, Loeschke was regarded as an outspoken supporter of university education for women.2 Fölzer was one of the first academically trained women in classical studies: she was the first woman to successfully complete a degree in Classical Archeology and the first female specialist in provincial Roman archeology in Germany.3 Although her remarkable research into Roman pottery was groundbreaking, she was never able to secure a stable professional position.
In the summer of 1907, she was a research aide at the Provincial Museum in Trier, without the right to a permanent position.4 She worked on ceramic finds from sewer excavations there, which is what led to her specialism in Roman pottery. In 1910/11 she moved to Frankfurt am Main to continue her research at the Roman-Germanic Commission. When permanent positions became available in 1911 and again in 1918, however, these were filled by men. She left the Trier Museum in 1917 and nearly all traces of her from then on are lost. It is assumed that she worked as a private language and art teacher, first in Frankfurt am Main and later in Berlin.5 Her name appears on a list of Jewish members to expel from the Archaeological Institute, drawn up by the Reich Ministry of Science in 1938 – the only indication of her Jewish origins.6
1 Merten (2013a): 122. 2 Merten (2013a): 123. 3 Merten (2013b): 70. 4 Gutsmiedl-Schümann (2023). 5 Merten (2013a): 131, Gutsmiedl-Schümann (2023). 6 Merten (2013a): 132f.
List of sources:
Gutsmiedl-Schümann, Doris (2023): Die ersten Doktorandinnen in den Archäologien, In: AktArcha, URL: https://aktarcha.hypotheses.org/1439, [Abruf: 06.03.2025].
Merten, Jürgen (2013a): Elvira Fölzer (*1868). Zum sozialen und beruflichen Umfeld einer frühen Trierer Archäologin, In: Fries, Jana E./Gutsmiedl-Schümann, Doris (Hrsg.): Ausgräberinnen, Forscherinnen, Pionierinnen. Ausgewählte Porträts früher Archäologinnen im Kontext ihrer Zeit. Frauen Forschung Archäologie 10, Waxmann: Münster.
Merten, Jürgen (2013b): Gelehrte Frauen am Trierer Museum. Elvira Fölzer, Elisabeth Vorrenhagen, Else Förster, In: Funde und Ausgrabungen im Bezirk Trier: Aus der Arbeit des Rheinischen Landesmuseum Trier 45, S. 70-77.
Foto: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier/ Urheber*in unbekannt/ 1909
Amalie Kretzer
1873 – 1948
The untaken photo shows Amalie Kretzer in front of the University Main Building in Bonn, where her studies and doctorate in physics took place.
input AI: [Foto Amalie Kretzer] as a 40 year old female scientist, standing proud on the campus of the University of Bonn, vintage photo from 1909, wet plate photography --s 250
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Amalie Kretzer was the first female doctoral student in physics at the University of Bonn.
When Amalie Kretzer first enrolled as a guest auditor at the University of Bonn for the winter term in 1904/1905, she was 31 years old and had already been working for several years as a teacher. Her path towards an academic education was typical for women at the time: she attended a girls’ school and then passed her teacher’s examination, which allowed her to teach at institutions like the one she attended. In 1904, she passed her A-levels, for which she had prepared privately.
Her studies in natural sciences and mathematics led Amalie Kretzer to the Universities of Marburg and Göttingen, before she returned to the University of Bonn in 1908 and – as the Prussian administration from that year onwards officially permitted women to attend universities – continued her studies as an enrolled student.1 Amalie Kretzer undertook her studies as the field of physics was changing rapidly, and as renowned physicists such as Max Planck publicly opined that a female «aptness» for physics could only ever be considered an «exception».2 Despite such prejudice, she set out to obtain a doctoral degree and, on October 15, 1909, was the first woman to receive a doctorate in physics from the University of Bonn.3
There were virtually no career prospects for female researchers in the natural sciences, however, which led Amalie Kretzer to take the state examination for secondary school education and work as a teacher at a secondary school for girls after her doctoral studies. She remained in this position until her wedding in 1917, after which she was then, as a married woman, prohibited from teaching. This so-called ‘celibacy-clause’ was in effect until 1920.4
1 Hinterberger, M. (1996): 21. 2 Planck, M. (1897) zitiert nach Kleinert, A. (1978): 32. 3 Hinterberger, M. (1996): 28. 4 Hinterberger, M. (1996): 34f.
List of sources:
Hinterberger, Monika (1996): «Man räume ihnen Kanzeln und Lehrstühle ein» – Zur Geschichte der Physikerinnen an der Universität Bonn, In: Mühlenbruch, Brigitte (Hrsg.): ZOOM Schriftenreihe der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (2), Bonn.
Kleinert, Andreas (1978): Vom Trieb zur theoretischen Physik. Physikalische Blätter, 34 (1), S. 31-33.
Hintergrundfoto: Universität Bonn, ca. 1920, Quelle: unbekannt
Foto: Anspach, Julia et.al. (2004): «Das Bild spricht, obschon es stumm ist» Dokumentation im Anschluss an die Ausstellung Vorbilder, Wissenschaftlerinnen der Universität Bonn, In: Mättig, Ursula (Hrsg.): ZOOM Schriftenreihe der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (6), Bonn./Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Maria von Linden
1869 – 1936
The untaken picture shows Maria von Linden doing academic teaching that she was denied her whole life.
input AI: [Foto Maria von Linden] standing proud with crossed arms, as a 70 year old female scientist, dressed like a man, with slicked back hair, looking like a man, wearing a lab cout, standing in a lecture hall in Bonn in front of students, teaching chemistry, leica style from 1920 --v 6.0 --s 250
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Maria von Linden was the first titular professor at the University of Bonn and in Germany.
Throughout Maria von Linden’s biography, there is a persistent notion that she was ‚the first’: the first female pupil who obtained the Abitur at a boys’ grammar school, the first female student and doctoral student at the University of Tübingen and, later, the first titular professor at the University of Bonn. Despite her privileged background – she was born into nobility and bore the title of Countess – Maria von Linden had to fight hard to obtain access to an education and academic career. After her successful completion of her studies and doctorate in Tübingen and a brief stay at the University of Halle, she became head of the parasitology department at the University of Bonn. Her Habilitation proposal was rejected at the time.1 Even though she received the title of ‘professor’ in 1910, she was denied access to teaching – the so-called venia legendi.2 Maria von Linden was an active researcher at the University of Bonn for a total of 34 years. During this time, she helped develop the parasitology department into an independent institution.
Nevertheless, her position was not compensated adequately, she did not receive fixed funding and was denied tenure. In 1933, she was forced to retire under the ‘Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service’. Maria von Linden had already spoken up about the dangers of national socialism as early as the year 1923.3 After her forced retirement, she emigrated to Liechtenstein. Maria von Linden was undoubtedly a scientific pioneer, yet she continually battled with the restrictions of a patriarchal society. Even in her private life, Maria von Linden rebelled against patriarchal stereotypes and structures: she preferred to wear clothing with a ‘masculine connotation’ and repeatedly broke with the notions of ‘traditional femininity’.4
1 Flecken (1996): 122. 2 Flecken (1996): 117. 3 Flecken (1997): 124. 4 Junginger (1991): 125.
List of sources:
Flecken, Susannne (1996): Maria Gräfin von Linden, In: Kuhn, Annette et.al. (Hrsg.): 100 Jahre Frauenstudium. Frauen der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Verlag die Werkstatt: Göttingen.
Junginger, Gabriele (1998): Junginger, Gabriele (Hrsg.): Maria Gräfin von Linden. «Erlebtes und Erstrebtes eines Sonntagskindes»: die Erinnerungen der ersten Studentin in Württemberg, Attempto: Tübingen.
Foto: Universitätsarchiv Tübingen - S 91/3,390/Urheber*in unbekannt/ 1910
Mathilde Vaerting
1884 – 1977
The untaken picture shows Mathilde Vaerting teaching outside the classroom.
input AI: [Foto Mathilda Vaerting] standing proud as a 80 year old female professor with black hair looking directly in the camera, holding a ball in her hands, she is standing in a group of playing children in a park, the children are playing ball, vintage photo from 1920, leica style --s 250 --v 6.1
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Mathilde Vaerting was the first full professor at a German university and the second woman, after Margarete von Wrangell, to hold a chair in Germany.
Mathilde Vaerting successfully passed the higher teacher examination and began teaching at a school in Dusseldorf. Her time as a teacher had a strong influence on her and her later pedagogical research.1 From 1907, Vaerting studied in Bonn, where she obtained her doctorate in 1911. She subsequently worked as a senior teacher in Berlin, during which time she published a series of papers on gender psychology as well as on didactics in mathematics.2 After an unsuccessful attempt to undertake a Habilitation at the University of Berlin, she was nonetheless appointed to the Chair of Educational Science at the University of Jena in 1923.
Her appointment met with strong resistance, as it was made against the wishes of the Faculties. In 1930, the zoologist and anti-semite Ludwig Plate attacked her with an anti-feminist diatribe titled « Feminism under the Guise of Academia.» 3 She was also accused of having a low number of students, despite the fact that she had been denied the right to hold examinations. After the seizure of power by the National Socialists, she was dismissed from her post in 1933, banned from publishing and traveling abroad, and was unable to continue with her research.
After the war, Vaerting was never able to regain a foothold in academia. Her applications for professorship failed and her works initially went largely unnoticed. Her findings on gender psychology, however, are still considered relevant today and her criticism of the system ‘school’ as well as her didactic methods are still well respected.4 As of November 2023, a memorial plaque in the main building of the University of Jena commemorates her as the first female professor at a German university. The University of Jena and the Society for the Study of the History of Democracy (GEDG) are thus now paying her the respect which she was denied during her lifetime.5
1 Werth (2023): 92. 2 Werth (2023): 98ff. 3 Hollstein (2023), Plate (1930). 4 Kraul, Margret (2016). 5 Hollstein (2023).
List of sources:
Hollstein, Sebastian (2023): Die erste Professorin an einer deutschen Universität, In: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, URL: https://www.uni-jena.de/213543/die-erste-professorin-an-einer-deutschen-universitaet; [Abruf: 06.03.2025].
Kraul, Margret (2016): Mathilde Vaerting: Neubegründung der Psychologie von Mann und Weib. I. Bd.: Die weibliche Eigenart im Männerstaat und die männliche Eigenart im Frauenstaat, II. Bd.: Wahrheit und Irrtum in der Geschlechterpsychologie, Karlsruhe i. B.: G. Braun 1921/23, insg. 422 S., In: Salzborn, Samuel (Hrsg.): Klassiker der Sozialwissenschaften. Springer VS: Wiesbaden.
Plate, Ludwig (1930): Feminismus unter dem Deckmantel der Wissenschaft, In: Eberhard, Ehrhard F.W. (Hrsg.): Geschlechtscharakter und Volkskraft: Grundprobleme des Feminismus, S. 198-215, Ernst Hofman & Co: Darmstadt.
Werth, Gerda (2023): Neue Wege im mathematischen Unterricht. Auf den Spuren Mathilde Vaertings. Springer VS: Wiesbaden.
Foto: Universitätsarchiv Bielefeld, Nachlass Mathilde Vaerting, NLMV 707, 1_30/Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Leah Goldberg
1911 – 1970
The untaken picture shows Leah Goldberg during the time of her doctoral studies at the University of Bonn.
input AI: [Foto Leah Goldberg] as a 30 year old female scientist, sitting proud behind a desk with books, writing, illuminated by a small lamp, leica style from 1933, film gain --s 250 --v 6.1
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Leah Goldberg continues to be one of Israel’s most important writers today and was the first female doctoral graduate in Semitic Philology at the University of Bonn.
Leah Goldberg began her studies at the University of Kaunas in Lithuania, before moving to Berlin in 1930 and then to the Department of Oriental Studies at the University of Bonn to complete her doctorate under the then-departmental director, Professor Paul Kahle.1 Leah Goldberg’s time in Bonn was short, and as a Jewish person during the National Socialist era she had no future here. In 1933, she completed her doctoral studies at the University of Bonn and returned to Lithuania. There, she finalized her dissertation, entitled The Samaritan Pentateuchtargum. An Examination of its Manuscript Sources, and submitted it in 1935.2 In the same year, Leah Goldberg emigrated to Tel Aviv. In her novel, Letters from an Imaginary Journey, she explored the rise of National Socialism and her departure from Europe.
In addition to her academic career, Leah Goldberg was interested from a young age in poetry and literature. She had already written her first poems at the age of twelve. Alongside her studies, she belonged to a Lithuanian poetry society in the early 1930s and successfully published several of her poems in magazines.3 Leah Goldberg remained in Tel Aviv until 1952, where she worked as an author, journalist, and editor, and was the first and only female member of the Israeli poetry group Yachdav.4
In 1952, Leah Goldberg moved to Jerusalem to teach at the Hebrew University – a partner University of the University of Bonn – initially as a lecturer and later as a Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature, which she headed until her death in 1970.5
1 Harel (2009). 2 Weiss (2007): 24ff. 3 Oberhänsli-Widmer (2010). 4 Pines (2017). 5 Oberhänsli-Widmer (2010).
List of sources:
Pines, Sarah (2017): «Mein Herz hat sich an sich selbst gewöhnt», In: WELT, URL: https://www.welt.de/kultur/literarischewelt/article171897491/Urbane-Poesie-Leah-Goldberg-war-Israels-erste-grosse-Dichterin.html, [Abruf: 24.01.205].
Harel, Ma’ayan (2009): Lea Goldberg, In: Jewish Women’s Archive, URL: https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/goldberg-lea, [Abruf: 24.01.2025].
Weiss, Yfaat (2007): Lea Goldberg – von Kowno nach Tel Aviv, In: Münchener Beiträge zur jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur (1), S. 9-32.
Oberhänsli-Widmer, Gabrielle (2010): Lea Goldberg, In: Orientalisches Seminar Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, URL: https://www.orient.uni-freiburg.de/judaistik/projekte_juda/durchgefuehrte-projekte/goldberg/bio.html, [Abruf: 22.01.2025].
Foto: Meitar Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel/ Urheber: Benno Rothenberg/ nach 1946
Käthe Kümmel
1905 – 1994
The untaken picture shows Käthe Kümmel on one of her excursions in the Ahr Valley.
input AI: An old photograph from 1950, showing female biologist scientist [Foto Käthe Kümmel] with her back to the camera, pointing at something in front of her and carrying a large cylindrical brass canister on her shoulder. She is wearing a dark suit jacket and trousers, The background shows a grassy hillside with trees and bushes --s 250 --v 6.1
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Käthe Kümmel was a botanist and the first woman to complete her Habilitation at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bonn. A street on the Poppelsdorf campus is named after her.
Her academic and professional career regularly led her back to Bonn. In 1925, she began studying botany and geography at the University of Bonn before transferring to the University of Heidelberg. There, she completed her doctorate in botany in July 1929, with geology and mineralogy as secondary disciplines. Until the end of 1931, Käthe Kümmel worked as a research assistant at various botanical departments in Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Between 1932 and 1935, Käthe Kümmel was unable to find paid employment as a research scientist. She instead worked at a museum in Dusseldorf, gave specialist lectures, offered courses and excursions, designed exhibitions and founded a working group – all on a voluntary basis.1
In July 1937, she took up a position as a scientific assistant at the Bonn Natural History Society, where she worked for 29 years, later becoming the society’s first female managing director. During this time, she also published her own research, particularly on the vegetation of the Rhineland and the Siebengebirge.2 In 1944, Käthe Kümmel was the first women to achieve a Habilitation at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at the University of Bonn.3 Following her Habilitation, however, she was unable to establish a career as a university lecturer, despite the fact that she unquestionably possessed all the qualifications necessary to do so.4 The focus of her work at the Natural History Society was on passing on her knowledge and enthusiasm for botany to students, pupils, and teachers.
1 Hersberg (1995): 6. 2 Hersberg (1995): 6. 3 NHV (2018): 61 4 Hersberg (1995): 7.
List of sources:
Hersberg (1995): Dr. habil. Käthe Kümmel (1905 - 1994), In: DECHENIANA 148 (8), 5-8.
NHV (2018): 175 Jahre NHV – Eine Erfolgsgeschichte, In: Naturhistorischer Verein, URL: https://www.naturhistorischerverein.de/downloads/Vortrag_NHV_175Jahre.pdf; [Abruf: 12.02.2025].
Foto: Kersberg, Herbert: Dr. habil. Käthe Kümmel (1905-1994) - 30. April 1905-30.April 1994. Decheniana: Verhandlungen des Naturhistorischen Vereins der Rheinlande und Westfalens, 148, S. 5-8./ Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Emmi Hagen
1918 – 1968
The untaken picture shows Emmi Hagen at an international medical conference.
input AI: [Foto Emmi Hagen] as elderly female doctor, standing proud in front of the congress, together with male doctors from all over the world, photo from 1960, A photo of the opening ceremony for a congress in Bonn on a Staircase, with many people dressed as doctors from 1960, men and women, walking up to a hospital, leica style --s 250
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Emmi Hagen was not only the first woman to complete her Habilitation at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn, but she was also the first woman in Germany to hold a chair in anatomy.
After successfully completing her secondary school examinations, Emmi Hagen enrolled as a medical student at the University of Bonn in 1937. After a few minor initial mishaps in her studies, she not only passed the state examinations in 1942 but also obtained her doctorate. She was subsequently recommended for an assistant position by the director of the Anatomical Institute, which she took up after enduring some resistance from the authorities.1 After 1945, her career advanced significantly: in 1949, she was the first woman to complete her Habilitation in the Faculty of Medicine. In 1952, she was promoted to become Head of the Department of Experimental Biology, and in 1959, she became an appointed professor at the Institute of Anatomy.2 Furthermore, her career developed on an international level. From 1954 onwards, she and her department were funded by the Rockefeller Fellowship, which allowed for her to organize research stays in Basel, Cambridge, and other cities. At the same time, her international connections enabled the entire institute to foster an international outlook and community and to host a variety of international researchers.3 Beyond that, Emmi Hagen was a member of various international research associations and also engaged in voluntary work for her students.4 The climax – and, unfortunately, also the end – of her scientific career was her appointment as full professor and director of the Institute of Anatomy in 1967.
In 1968, only roughly a year after her appointment, she died from cancer at the age of 50. Her obituary shows the wide-spread admiration and appreciation of both her scientific as well as her voluntary work by her colleagues, and emphasizes her special position as a woman researcher and the many obstacles she faced.5
1 Forstbach (2006): 85. 2 Bruchhausen et.al. (2018): 90. 3 Bruchhausen et. al. (2018): 115, Chronik des akademischen Jahres 1957/58, S. 56. 4 Bargmann (1969): 555. 5 Bargmann (1969), Wolf-Heidegger (1968)
List of sources:
Bargmann, Wolfgang (1969): In memoriam der Anatomin Emmi Hagen (1918–1968). Anatomischer Anzeiger, 125, S. 552–562.
Bruchhausen, Walter et.al. (2018): Die Medizinische Fakultät, In: Becker, Thomas/Rosin, Philip (Hrsg.): Die Natur- und Lebenswissenschaften. Geschichte der Universität Bonn, (4), S. 7-212, Göttingen: V&R unipress.
Universität Bonn (1958): Chronik des akademischen Jahres 1957/58.
Forstbach, Ralf (2006): Die Medizinische Fakultät der Universität Bonn im «Dritten Reich», München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag.
Wolf-Heidegger, Gerhard (1968): Zum Gedenken an Emmi Hagen. Acta Anatomica, 71, S. 481–491.
Foto: Universitätsarchiv Bonn, PS-296/ Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Margarete Woltner
1897 – 1985
The untaken picture shows Margarete Woltner in Lecture Hall I of the University Main Building in Bonn.
input AI: Vintage Portrait from 1953 of imposing 70 year old female scientist [Foto Margarete Woltner] standing confidently proud and serious with crossed arms in a lecture hall of Bonn, full body portrait --s 50 --v 6.1 --style raw
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Margarete Woltner was a German Slavicist and the first female full professor at the University of Bonn.
Born in Riga, Margarete Woltner studied history and Slavic studies from 1919 to 1923 in Leipzig and elsewhere. Margete Woltner completed her doctorate there in 1923 under the supervision of Slavicist Max Vasmer, and then took up a position as an assistant at his institute.1 In 1925, they both moved to the University of Berlin, she as an adjunct research assistant and Max Vasmer as a professor. Margarete Woltner remained at the Berlin institution until 1949, during which time she held various positions. In 1937, she completed her Habilitation, becoming the first woman to overcome this academic hurdle at the University of Berlin during the Nazi era.2 Despite her Habilitation, it took another two years – due to her gender and her stance against fascism – before she was recognized as a lecturer and paid accordingly. During her time as a research assistant, Margarete Woltner had already taken on important teaching duties.3
In 1947, she became the Head of the Institute and made a significant contribution to the revival of Slavic studies after World War II. In 1950, she resigned from her position for political reasons and taught at the University of Mainz starting in the same year, first as a lecturer and then as a professor. In 1953, she moved to the University of Bonn. As the first full female professor, she founded the Slavic Department, where she worked until her retirement in 1966.4
1 Sturm (1986): 478. 2 Weickart (2012): 103. 3 Sturm (1986): 478f. 4 Brang/Bräuer (1986): XIV.
List of sources:
Weickart, Eva (2012): Prof. Dr. Margarete Woltner. Universitäsprofessorin, In: Frauenbüro Landeshauptstadt Mainz (Hrsg.): Blick auf Mainzer Frauengeschichte. Mainzer Frauenkalender 1991 bis 2012, Hausdruckerei: Mainz.
Sturm, G. (1986): NEKROLOG: In memoriam Margarete Woltner, In: Zeitschrift für Slawistik 31 (3), S. 478-480.
Brang, Peter/Bräuer, Herbert (1986): Margarete Woltner †, In: Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie 46 (1), XI-XVI.
Foto: Anspach, Julia et.al. (2004): „Das Bild spricht, obschon es stumm ist“ Dokumentation im Anschluss an die Ausstellung Vorbilder, Wissenschaftlerinnen der Universität Bonn, In: Mättig, Ursula (Hrsg.): ZOOM Schriftenreihe der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (6), Bonn./Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Rose-Marie Wegner
1924 – 2018
The untaken picture shows Rose-Marie Wegner at an internationale conference held by the World’s Poultry Science Association.
input AI: vintage photo from 1960 of 50 year old female scientist [Foto Rose-Marie Wegner] standing in a group of men with hats and briefcases. The men are showing chickens on an animal fair, the woman is standing proud and confident in the middle, --s 50 --v 6.1 --style raw
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Rose-Marie Wegner was, in 1961, the first Habilitation candidate at the Faculty of Agriculture (now the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences) at the University of Bonn. A street on the Poppelsdorf campus is named after her.
Born in East Prussia, she completed her A-levels in Saxony in 1942. After her military service, she was initially denied access to university, which led her to complete an agricultural apprenticeship and to qualify as a state-certified agriculturalist. She then studied agricultural sciences in Halle and Bonn and graduated in 1950. Her dissertation on commercial cross-breeding and Kennhuhn breeds marked the beginning of her academic career; in 1966 she became Professor of Small Animal Breeding at the University of Bonn. Her research focused on the breeding, feeding, and keeping of poultry and small animals.
From 1976 to 1989, she was the Head of the Federal Research Institute for Small Animal Breeding in Celle. Her focus there was on animal welfare and she published more than 200 scientific papers on the breeding and keeping of poultry. Wegner was committed to international exchange and spent research stays in England and the USA.1 She was active in the World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA) and received the Mac Dougall Medal in 1994 and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1996 for her voluntary work. In 200, she was inducted into the WPSA Hall of Fame – to date, one of only four women among 65 men.2
1 Petersen, J. (2018): 61. 2 WPSA (o.J.).
List of sources:
Petersen, J. (2018): Rose-Marie Wegner (16.03.1924 – 13.04.2018), In: Chronik der Universität Bonn 2017-2018.
WPSA (o.J.): IHPF recipients 2000, In: World’s Poultry Association, URL: https://www.wpsa.com/index.php/iphf-recipients-2000, [Abruf: 05.03.2025].
Foto: Anspach, Julia et.al. (2004): „Das Bild spricht, obschon es stumm ist“ Dokumentation im Anschluss an die Ausstellung Vorbilder, Wissenschaftlerinnen der Universität Bonn, In: Mättig, Ursula (Hrsg.): ZOOM Schriftenreihe der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (6), Bonn./Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Hilde Kaufmann
1920 – 1981
The untaken picture shows Hilde Kaufmann in the style of a classic portrait.
input AI: Vintage Portrait from 1960 of 60 year old female judge [Foto Hilde Kaufmann] wearing a black suit, with short dark hair, very soft natural light, standing confidently proud and serious in a library, looking directly into the camera --v 6.1 --s 150 --style raw
generiert mit Midjourney von Gesine Born
Hilde Kaufmann was, in 1961, the first female lecturer with a Habilitation at the Faculty of Law and Economics at the University of Bonn.
She worked intensively on social inequality and analyzed how societal structures, including gender roles, promote inequality. Kaufmann argued that these deeply rooted structures need to be actively questioned and changed in order to promote equality and justice. During her career, Kaufmann often experienced prejudice and skepticism from colleagues and instructors, which made her feel that she needed to prove herself, especially as a woman. These experiences shaped her fierce nature and tenacity at work.1 She had a passionate interest in people and the forces that governed their lives and actions. After her Habilitation in 1961, Kaufmann became the Head of the Department of Criminology in Bonn and remained at the University for four years, first as a lecturer and later as an adjunct professor.2
Her decision to remain in Bonn was not only professional but also personal – due to marriage and the desire to start a family. In 1966, Hilde Kaufmann decided in favor of academia and accepted an appointment at the University of Kiel.3 In 1970, she moved to the University of Cologne as Professor and Head of the Criminological Research Center, where she remained until her unexpected death in 1981. The close intertwining of science and practice was a recurring feature of her academic work, both in teaching and in publications.4
1 Marquardt (1986): 2. 2 Marquardt (1986): 9. 3 Marquardt (1986): 12. 4 Marquardt (1986): 13.
List of sources:
Marquardt, Helmut (1986): Hilde Kaufmann. Eine Skizze ihres Lebens und ihres wissenschaftlichen Werkes, In: Hirsch, Hans J. et.al. (Hrsg.): Gedächtnisschrift für Hilde Kaufmann, S. 2-5, Walter de Gruyter: Berlin/New York.
Foto: Universitätsarchiv Bonn/Urheber*in unbekannt/ Jahr unbekannt
Cornelia Richter
The photo shows Cornelia Richter as the first female Dean of the Faculty of Protestant Theology from 2020-2024.
Even today there are still women being ‘the first’: Cornelia Richter is Professor of Systematic Theology and was both the first Dean of the Faculty of Protestant Theology in Bonn and the first female Chair of the Senate of the University of Bonn.
Born in Bad Ischl/Upper Austria, Cornelia Richter studied Protestant Theology and Philosophy in Vienna as well as in Munich from 1989-1995. From 1998-2003 she worked as a research assistant at the Department of Protestant Theology at the Philipps University of Marburg, where she received her doctorate in 2002 (supervisor: Dietrich Korsch). From 2003-2005 she was Assistant Research Professor at the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen. From 2005-2010 she returned to Marburg, where she completed her habilitation in 2010. This was followed by deputy professorships at the Universities of Giessen and Zurich, which culminated in three offers of appointment in Giessen, Bonn and Kiel in 2012.
The appointment to Bonn was biographically noteworthy in that Richter‘s grandmother, Johanna Pauline Frieda Schulze (1898-1978), was the first female theology student in the Rhineland to seek to take the ecclesiastical examination at the Rhenish Consistory.1 However, she was denied access to the exam on the grounds of being unable to serve in a parish ministry. Instead, the Faculty of Protestant Theology at the University of Bonn allowed her to be the first female candidate to take the faculty exam - which was still very unusual at the time. However, she was nevertheless still denied a professional position in a parish. Later, she was at least able to work as a religion teacher in Berlin.
Her granddaughter, Cornelia Richter, held the full professorship (W3) for Systematic Theology in Cologne from 2012-2020. She has been co-director of the Bonn Institute for Hermeneutics since 2012, has led the interdisciplinary research group “Resilience and Humanities” since 2014, and was able to acquire the funding for the first interdisciplinary DFG research group “Resilience in Religion and Spirituality” (2019-2023, spokesperson: Richter) initiated by theology in 2018. In 2020, she moved to the professorship (W3) for Systematic Theology with a focus on dogma and philosophy of religion at the Faculty of Bonn. Moreover, since 2024 she has also held a joint professorship with the University of St. Andrews/Divinity School. Richter has functioned as a DFG peer reviewer and the first female university preacher at the Schlosskirche in Bonn since 2024. Cornelia Richter was the first female Dean of the Faculty of Protestant Theology from 2020-2024. She was a member of the Senate of the University of Bonn from 2016-2018 as Senator and from 2018-2020 as Deputy Chair; since 2024, she has been the first female Chair of the Senate of the University of Bonn.
1 Ihre Biographie ist historisch aufgearbeitet in Faulenbach (2003).
List of sources:
Faulenbach, Heiner (2003): Johanna Schulze – biographische Notizen, in: Monatshefte für Evangelische Kirchengeschichte des Rheinlandes (MEKGR), 52. Jahrgang, 488-496.
Foto: privat / Urheber*in unbekannt
