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Marie Gernet

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Born
1 October 1865
Ettlingen, Grand Duchy of Baden, now Germany
Died
10 February 1924
Karlsruhe, Germany
Summary
Marie Gernet was awarded a doctorate in mathematics in 1895, becoming the first German woman to do so. She spent her career as a secondary school teacher and became a leader in seeking reform of women's education in Germany.
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Biography

Marie Gernet was the daughter of Carl Anton Gernet (1837-1908) and Juliane Magdalena Otten (born 1839). Carl Gernet was born in Heidelberg on 2 July 1837 and he married Juliane Otten on 22 October 1863. She had been born in Heidelberg on 5 April 1839. Carl Gernet trained as a medical doctor, became a surgeon and then the Chief Medical Officer. Marie Gernet was born in Ettlingen, a town a few kilometres south of Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden.

In 1871 Marie Gernet began her schooling at the Höhere Töchterschule in Karlsruhe. This Higher Girls' School had been founded in 1827 for the daughters of professional people. It was situated on Ritterstrasse in Karlsruhe and, in 1838 the responsibility for running the school had moved to the city of Karlsruhe. During the nine years that Gernet studied there, in 1878, the school moved from Ritterstrasse into a new building designed by Heinrich Lang at Sophienstrasse 14. Shortly after that a nationwide reorganisation of secondary schools for young women took place and the Höhere Töchterschule became the Höhere Mädchenschule in May 1879. Gernet graduated from the Höhere Mädchenschule in 1880 and, later that year, she entered the Prinzessin Wilhelm-Stift, the Princess Wilhelm Foundation in Karlsruhe.

The Princess Wilhelm Foundation was the first state-run teacher training college for women in the Grand Duchy of Baden. It had been approved by the Baden State Ministry on 15 July 1878, and opened on 1 October 1878 on Stephanienstrasse, Karlsruhe. It was not, however, an entirely new school for it was based on a school founded by Fanny Trier on Stephanienstrasse in October 1873. The Princess Wilhelm Foundation offered a three year course, the first two years being prerequisites for the first teacher's examination for elementary schools, while the third year course, also known as the advanced seminary course, was for the second or higher teacher's examination for secondary girls' schools. The Princess Wilhelm Foundation had high tuition fees so only daughters of well-off people could afford to be educated there. In 1883, the year Gernet qualified to teach in girls' secondary schools, the total number of students was 72.

Although she was now qualified to teach in secondary schools, Gernet wanted to continued her studies. From 1883 until 1888 she studied privately to reach a level which would allow her to enter a Technische Hochschule. In 1888 the Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule accepted her as a special student. This Technische Hochschule was a prestigious institution with an excellent mathematics staff. Jacob Lüroth had taught there from 1868, becoming a full professor of mathematics in 1869. Lüroth had been a school friend of Ernst Schröder and Schröder joined him at the Karlsruhe Technische Hochschule in 1876. Although Lüroth had left the Technische Hochschule before Gernet became a student, she was taught algebra, set theory and logic by Schröder. She also took courses in differential and integral calculus and in physics taught by Heinrich Hertz who became an extraordinary professor at the Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe in 1885. At the Technische Hochschule she also took courses on chemistry and botany.

Gernet wanted to take her study of mathematics further and in 1891 she applied to the University of Heidelberg. She was not the only woman to apply to Heidelberg to be allowed to study for a doctorate in that year for Ruth Gentry also applied. Wishing to continue her studies to graduate level Gentry had entered Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1890 and had been awarded an Association of College Alumnae European Fellowship which would finance her studies in Europe. Both Gernet and Gentry applied for graduate study at the University of Heidelberg in 1891 but both were rejected. Sarah Singer [9], quoting James Albisetti [2], writes:-
... a few days after the applications of both women were rejected, members of the mathematics and sciences faculty proposed that women should be allowed to study with the approval of individual professors. After the university senate rejected the proposal, the Ministry of Education for the state of Baden supported the initial proposal and agreed to allow women to audit courses in the mathematics and sciences faculty. Although Gentry did not end up studying at Heidelberg, Marie Gernet did ...
Gernet studied mathematics and physics at the University of Heidelberg for two year, taking part in mathematical seminars and working in physics laboratories. She undertook research advised by Leo Königsberger and wrote her thesis Über Reduktion hyperelliptischer Integrale. Ⓣ In November 1894 she was examined in mathematics by Leo Königsberger, in physics by Georg Hermann Quincke (1834-1924) and in mechanics. She failed the mechanics part of the examination, studied hard for the following six months, then resat all three parts of the examination in July 1895. She passed all three parts and was awarded a doctorate, becoming the second woman to be awarded a doctorate by the University of Heidelberg, the first being Katharina Windscheid for the thesis English Pastoral Poetry from 1579-1625 in 1894. Gernet was the first German woman to be awarded a doctorate in mathematics.

Her thesis Über Reduktion hyperelliptischer Integrale Ⓣ was printed by Friedrich Gutsch and published in Karlsruhe in 1895. The title page states [6]:-
Inaugural dissertation for the doctorate of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg.
The thesis involves extending work done by Leo Königsberger, using techniques he developed, and examines the derivation of hyperelliptic integrals that can be reduced by rational substitution. It begins as follows [6]:-
For the purpose of deriving such hyperelliptic integrals, which can be reduced to elliptic integrals or to hyperelliptic integrals of lower order by rational substitutions, Privy Councillor Professor Dr Königsberger, in his "Allgemeinen Untersuchungen aus der Theorie der Differentialgleichungen" (General Investigations from the Theory of Differential Equations), proceeds from the following general transformation theorem ...
At the end of the thesis, following the style of that time, there is a biography of Marie Gernet which she has written. The information it contains has already been included above but we give an English translation of the description she herself wrote [6]:-
The author of this thesis, daughter of the Chief Medical Officer Gernet, was born on 1 October 1865, in Ettlingen. She attended the Karlsruhe Girls' High School from 1871 to 1880 and then entered the "Princess Wilhelm-Stift" teachers' seminary. After passing her teachers' examination for girls' high schools in 1883, she devoted herself to several years of private study of mathematics, which enabled her to attend lectures and some practical exercises in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and botany at the Grand Ducal Technische Hochschule in Karlsruhe from 1888 to 1891. In the autumn of 1891, she was permitted to continue her studies at the University of Heidelberg, where she attended lectures on mathematics and physics for two years, attended mathematical seminars, and participated in physics exercises for one semester. She received her doctorate in mathematics, physics, and mechanics on 18 July 1895.
On 18 August 1895 the Karlsruher Zeitung reported her achievement [15]:-
At the University of Heidelberg, a second woman, Miss Marie Gernet, a native of Karlsruhe, has received her doctorate, becoming the first German to do so in the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Her major subject for the examination was mathematics, with physics and mechanics as minors. The topic of her dissertation was "Reduction of hyperelliptic integrals by rational substitutions."
Germany's first girls' gymnasium opened in the grounds of the Höhere Mädchenschule in Karlsruhe on 11 September 1893; Gernet had graduated from the Höhere Mädchenschule in 1880. The Baden state parliament, the Baden government, and the Karlsruhe authorities had been influenced to found this school by the "Association for Women's Education Reform" which was led by Hedwig Kettler who had founded the Association in 1888. The Gymnasium began operations with 28 students in a building which formally belonged to the Höhere Mädchenschule. In 1895, after the award of her doctorate, Gernet became a teacher at this Gymnasium. She joined the "Association for Women's Education Reform" and was on the board of the Baden branch which was established in Karlsruhe. She placed the following Appeal in the Badische Presse on 4 November 1896 [5]:-
Appeal! Following the establishment of a Baden branch with headquarters in Karlsruhe at the 7th General Assembly of the "Association for Women's Education Reform", we call on everyone in Baden and in the Palatinate who is interested in our efforts, and especially in the preservation and further development of the Karlsruhe Girls' Gymnasium, to join our association. The minimum annual fee is 3 Marks. Membership applications and inquiries concerning the Gymnasium should be addressed to the members of the undersigned departmental board. The first meeting will take place on Wednesday, 4 November, at 8:00 p.m. in the music hall of the Höhere Mädchenschule, Sophienstrasse 14. The board of the Baden department of the "Association for Women's Education Reform" is Dr Maire Gernet, Dr R Knittel, and Hermine Ritzhaupt. Southern German newspapers are kindly requested to print this appeal.
The meeting referred to in this Appeal was held as announced on 4 November 1896 chaired by Gernet. A report of the meeting was sent to the Badische Landeszeitung which published it on Thursday 5 November 1896 [14]:-
Women's Education Reform. We received the following letter: "At yesterday's Association for Women's Education Reform meeting, Dr Gernet, as chairperson, was able to announce the welcome news that the membership had more than doubled to 126, and that some other contributions had also been received, making the first month a very positive one. Dr Gernet then gave a short lecture on the intellectual agility of women in the small country Finland, where seven grammar schools are open to girls and there are 56 female students at the university. In this regard, Germany can only follow even such small countries."
Although the Gymnasium and the Höhere Mädchenschule were separate schools when the Gymnasium was founded, in 1898 the schools were combined. This ensured state funding for the Mädchengymnasium (Girls' Gymnasium). In 1899, the first four students graduated.

The picture below is of the Mädchengymnasium in session 1905-6. The teaching staff are standing with Gernet the only woman, while the pupils sit at their desks.

Mädchengymnasium

The authors of [3] write that, at the Mädchengymnasium, Gernet:-
... became deeply involved in the reform of the school's management, the upgrading of the curriculum to Arbitur level, and the procuring o financial support from the city. She was also active in work for the advancement of women in postgraduate mathematics studies and in the state-wide curriculum planning for physics teaching in girls' high schools in Prussia. ... The Karlsruhe Girls' Gymnasium, where Gernet spent her entire career, was an institution famous for the quality of education it provided. Renamed the 'Lessingschule' in 1911, it was destroyed in 1942, but rebuilt after the war.
We note that the Gymnasium was renamed 'Lessingschule' when it moved to a new building at Sophienstrasse 147 on 21 September 1911. Gernet continued to teach at this school until her death in 1924.

Gernet was a member of the Association of Baden Women Teachers. This was a part of the Allgemeine Deutsche Lehrerinnenverein (ADLV), an umbrella organisation for educational work founded in 1890, which brought together existing regional associations. One of the founders of the ADLV was Helene Lange who became the association's first chairwoman. By the 1920s the ADLV had over 30,000 members. In the spring of 1923 organisation began for an ADLV conference in Karlsruhe. Gernet, as chair of the Association of Baden Women Teachers, became the main organiser of this major conference. It was made more difficult for Gernet since her health was deteriorating. Details of her work for this conference were given in the 1924 obituary for Gernet which was published in Die Badische Lehrerin, the journal of the Association of Baden Women Teachers [4]:-
It was just at the beginning of spring last year that the intense activity in the Karlsruhe branch of the Association of Baden Women Teachers began, which then culminated in the Whitsun conference of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Lehrerinnenverein (ADLV). Around Easter, registrations began pouring in; inquiries and orders from all parts of the Reich piled ever higher on the desk of Dr Marie Gernet, the chairwoman. She certainly had loyal helpers in the extensive preparatory work; but the responsibility for the success of the conference, which she had so expressly desired to be held here to revitalise the spirit in our circles, lay with her, and the thought of it often weighed heavily on her. She clearly felt that, with her health already seriously compromised at the time, she could only master this enormous task by summoning all her great energy, which had been her most loyal assistant throughout her life. It was a great moment for her when, despite all the difficult political and economic circumstances of those days, she was able to address the numerous guests in the decorated Festhalle hall, all the more so since Helene Lange, whom she so highly admired, was among them.
Gernet never married; teachers were not allowed to continue as teachers if they did marry and would lose their pensions. She died on 10 February 1924 at the age of 58.
Other Mathematicians born in Germany
A Poster of Marie Gernet

References (show)

  1. U Abel, Frauen in der Mathematik, Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (2025).
    https://www.thm.de/mnd/fachbereich/organisation/geschichte/frauen-in-der-mathematik
  2. J C Albisetti, Schooling German Girls and Women (Princeton University Press, 1988).
  3. M R S Creese with T M Creese, Ladies in the Laboratory II. West European Women in Science, 1800-1900. A Survey of their Contributions to Research (The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2004).
  4. Dr Marie Gernet (1865-1924), Die Badische Lehrerin 5 (23 March 1924).
  5. M Gernet, Appeal, Badische Presse 258 (4 November 1896).
  6. M Gernet, Über Reduktion hyperelliptischer Integrale (Friedrich Gutsch, Karlsruhe, 1895).
    https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/content/pageview/7592527
  7. B Knödler-Kagoshima, Wegbereiterinnen für das Frauenstudium in Baden und Deutschland: Katharina Windscheid, Marie Gernet, Ida Hyde und Anna Gebser, Badische Landes-Bibliothek (30 June 2023).
    https://www.blb-karlsruhe.de/blblog/2023-06-30-wegbereiterinnen-fuer-das-frauenstudium
  8. Marie Gernet, Mathematics Genealogy Project (2025).
    https://www.mathgenealogy.org/id.php?id=61590
  9. S L Singer, Adventures Abroad. North American Women at German-Speaking Universities, 1868-1915 (Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003), 11.
  10. R Tobies, Marie Gernet (1865-1924) - erste deutsche Doktorandin in Mathematik 10. und Lehrerin am ersten Mädchengymnasium, Mathematik in der Schule 36 (10) (1998), 556-561.
  11. R Tobies, Baden als Wegbereiter: Marie Gernet (1865-1924) erste Doktorandin in Mathematik und Lehrerin am ersten Mädchengymnasium, in M Toepell (ed.), Mathematik im Wandel, Anregungen zu einem fächerübergreifenden Mathematikunterricht 2 (Franzbecker Verlag, Hildesheim, 2001), 228-241.
  12. R Tobies (ed.), "Aller Männerkultur zum Trotz" Frauen in Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften (Campus Verlag, 1997).
  13. R Tobies, Mathematikerinnen und ihre Doktorväter, in Renate Tobies (ed.), "Aller Männerkultur zum Trotz" Frauen in Mathematik und Naturwissenschaften (Campus Verlag, 1997), 131-158.
  14. Women's Education Reform, Badische Landeszeitung 286 (5 December 1896), 1.
  15. Women's Studies, Karlsruher Zeitung 226 (18 August 1895).

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Written by J J O'Connor and E F Robertson
Last Update June 2025