Capital of Women Scientists

Migration & Health: these two terms sum up the main areas of study of the former rector of the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin.

The French scientist won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Jennifer A. Doudna.

After 118 male predecessors, she became the very first female president of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin in 1992 – a position she held for four years.

The Berlin-Buch campus is today a thriving research hub. Gudrun Erzgräber has played a major role in this, receiving the Orders of Merit of Germany and Berlin in 2008 and 2009 for her contributions.

Friedrike Fless was the first woman to hold a full professorship in classical archaeology at FU Berlin and later became the first female president of the German Archaeological Institute.

She conducts research into migration, integration, perceptions of Islam and Muslims in Germany, identity formation, and equality – all topics of great relevance in the societal discourse of today.

As part of an interdisciplinary research project in Bangladesh, she has been investigating how malnutrition in young children can be prevented over the long term.

Karin Hausen is considered one of the pioneers of women’s and gender history in the German-speaking world. She has been honored with the German Order of Merit for her historical research.

Gesche Joost has served, among other positions, as Germany’s first Internet Ambassador to the European Commission to push forward “digital transformation at the EU level.”

Dorothea Kübler’s expertise in the field of experimental economic research is much sought after internationally.

Claudia Langenberg investigates the molecular mechanisms of metabolic disorders. She and her team use this knowledge to better understand human disease.

Friederike Maier is a highly regarded expert on the role of gender in economics. She has served as a specialist advisor to the European Commission and the OECD.

The computer science professor was the first and only woman in many professional roles. In 1981 she was awarded the German Order of Merit for her contributions to gender equality.

Lise Meitner’s research merits the highest recognition – especially considering that women in Prussia were not allowed to study or enter lecture halls and laboratories until 1909.

When Elsa Neumann decided to dedicate her future to science, this goal must have appeared nearly impossible to achieve – but she later managed to study at the universities in Berlin and Göttingen.

She worked at the Robert Koch Institute, but soon moved to Charité as a research assistant. In 1912 she became Berlin‘s first woman professor, but was denied university employment.

She specializes in the provenance of cultural objects, including looted art. Time magazine counted her among the 100 most influential people of 2021 for her role in the cultural restitution debate.

In March 1990 she took over as rector of the Hanns Eisler School of Music Berlin , the first woman ever to head a German conservatory. In 2003 she was awarded the German Order of Merit.

For years Juliane Siegeris has been committed to getting more women involved in IT, a field usually dominated by men.

The fact that she was nominated 13 times for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine but never actually won it demonstrates the low status accorded to women scientists in the early 20th century.

The German philosopher was deeply committed to securing equal rights for women. Today the Margherita von Brentano Center for Gender Studies at FU Berlin is named in her honor.

On October 6, 1908, she became the first woman to enroll in the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Berlin, after the Prussian Ministry of Education admitted women to universities for the first time.