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Grete Hermann - Between Physics and Philosophy pp 3–16Cite as

A Biographical Sketch of Prof. Dr Grete Henry-Hermann (1901–1984)

Part of the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science book series (AUST,volume 42)

Abstract

Grete Henry-Hermann was born in Bremen in 1901. After a doctorate in mathematics with Emmy Noether in Göttingen, she became first a pupil, then personal assistant of the neo-Kantian philosopher Leonard Nelson , and continued his philosophical and political work with Minna Specht after his death. In the 1930s, Hermann worked on the foundations of quantum mechanics in close contact with Werner Heisenberg and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , as well as continuing her political work against the Nazi regime. She lived in exile 1934–1946, mainly in Denmark and England. After the war she returned to Germany and spent most of her career there at the Pädagogische Hochschule in Bremen. She contributed to cultural and educational policies in post-war Germany and worked on the critique and further development of Nelson’s ethics. She died in Bremen in 1984. This biographical sketch of Grete Hermann was originally published in German in the Zeitschrift für Museum und Bildung.

Keywords

  • Werner HeisenbergHeisenberg
  • Emmy Noether
  • Fundamental Philosophical Questions
  • Demic Culture
  • Personal Files

These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Translated by Lisa Frach. This biographical sketch of Grete Hermann was originally published in German as Hansen-Schaberg (2011/2012).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the following I shall use the short form ‘Grete’ of the name, as preferred and used by her. She published mostly under the name Grete Hermann even after her marriage.

  2. 2.

    Extraordinary professors are tenured professors whose positions correspond more or less to the English ‘personal chairs’, i.e. they do not fill established chairs (eds.).

  3. 3.

    Grete Hermann provided this quotation from the year 1925 in Hermann (1982) when asked about her memories of Emmy Noether.

  4. 4.

    All statements about Minna Specht in this paper are based on results of research that was done for my dissertation.

  5. 5.

    Several of the letters mentioned here will be published (in German) in a forthcoming book, Herrmann (2017) (eds.).

  6. 6.

    A list of the articles can be found in the volume of Hermann’s writings, Henry-Hermann (1985, pp. 226 ff).

  7. 7.

    In the English version, this passage reads: ‘Devotion to art or science, to the creation of relatively free human relations which is possible in such a protected environment has helped to mislead the world about the real state of affairs in society. Indeed it has been assiduously exploited for this very purpose. Those who adapt themselves to a regime such as Hitler’s and close their eyes to the political happenings around them for the sake of things which in themselves are valuable, support and strengthen the system in taking up such an attitude. There can be no neutrality when people stand face to face with the moral and cultural decline of a corrupt social order. Those who do not struggle against it grant it their support. However fine and noble the achievements otherwise obtained, they are rendered worthless by the share in the social injustices with which they are burdened’ (Hermann 1947, p. 66) (eds.).

  8. 8.

    The concept of the ‘Einheitsschule’ refers to a comprehensive school for all pupils until school leaving, while ‘differentiation’ refers to the approach to pupils with different abilities and aptitudes (eds.).

  9. 9.

    This correspondence is also included in Herrmann (2017) (eds.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Inge Hansen-Schaberg

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  1. Inge Hansen-Schaberg
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Correspondence to Inge Hansen-Schaberg .

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  1. Department of Philosophy, The City University of New York, New York, New York, USA

    Elise Crull

  2. Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Guido Bacciagaluppi

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Hansen-Schaberg, I. (2016). A Biographical Sketch of Prof. Dr Grete Henry-Hermann (1901–1984). In: Crull, E., Bacciagaluppi, G. (eds) Grete Hermann - Between Physics and Philosophy. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-0970-3_1

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