Grete Hermann

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Grete Hermann or Grete Henry or Grete Henry-Hermann (* March 2, 1901 in Bremen ; † April 15, 1984 in Bremen) was a German mathematician , physicist , philosopher and educator who worked with physicists such as Werner Heisenberg and other scientists of her time Discussion about the development of modern quantum physics in particular stood.

biography

Youth and education

Hermann was born the third of seven children into a middle-class Protestant merchant family in Bremen and grew up with two sisters and four brothers. Her two grandfathers were pastors.

After the High School with 19 years at the New School in Bremen (now High School on Barkhof were) to the girl admitted only in exceptional cases, it acquired 1921 the qualification to teach elementary and middle schools and then studied mathematics , physics and philosophy in Göttingen and Freiburg Breisgau . In 1925, Grete Hermann received her doctorate from the Göttingen mathematician Emmy Noether with her dissertation The question of the finite number of steps in the theory of polynomial ideals . Hermann also passed the examination for teaching at higher schools.

assistant

Then she worked until his death in 1927 as a private assistant to the Göttingen philosopher Leonard Nelson , who endeavored to further develop Kant's critical philosophy in the tradition of Jakob Friedrich Fries , which he developed through the development of an ethic that should apply to political action , above all, consistently sought to implement it in pedagogy and political practice. She was also involved in the International Socialist Combat League (ISK) founded by Nelson in 1926 , whose leading members included Willi Eichler and Minna Specht , and worked in the Walkemühle rural education home founded by Nelson near Melsungen .

After Nelson's death, she and Minna Specht edited the volume “ System of Philosophical Ethics and Pedagogy ” from the estate , but also continued her own research.

Against National Socialism

In order to fight against National Socialism , she joined the editorial team of the daily newspaper "Der Funke", which was published by the ISK from January 1932 onwards, in the early 1930s. Its main concern was to support the formation of a united front for all forces opposed to National Socialism An urgent appeal signed by well-known artists, politicians and scientists was published and posted.

After Hitler came to power , Grete Hermann held philosophical courses in which the political and ethical values ​​worth defending and the meaning of resistance against the Nazi regime were discussed. In her own words, these courses “went deeper and were more lively than probably all classroom work that I have otherwise done in my life. “At the same time she continued her scientific work, corresponded with Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker , Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr as well as other important mathematicians and natural scientists and in the summer of 1934 also took part in a seminar by Werner Heisenberg with several renowned physicists in Leipzig . The considerations that emerged from this discussion were published in 1935 under the title “ The natural philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics ” and thus received great attention in physical research. In 1936 she received for her work “ What consequences do quantum theory and field theory of modern physics have for the theory of knowledge? “The price of the Avenarius Foundation in Leipzig.

In her 1935 book, she also criticized the evidence of the refutation of theories of hidden variables by John von Neumann , which was long considered irrefutable. She found a fundamental flaw in the premises of the proof. Their criticism went largely unnoticed, however, and the lack of gaps in von Neumann's evidence only prevailed in 1966 with the work of John Stewart Bell , who argued similarly to Hermann. The reason why Hermann received little attention at the time was attributed to various causes, including the obscure place of publication, her background as a philosopher (and her conclusion that a philosophical analysis was adequate at this point), the great reputation of John von Neumann and the fact that the proponents of the orthodox Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics suited the refutation.

emigration

In connection with the wave of persecution by the ISK groups since 1935/36, she too was forced to emigrate ; she first went to Denmark , where Minna Specht had set up a school in exile for children from the Walkemühle Landerziehungsheim , which had been closed by the Nazis in 1933, and in 1937 to England .

She entered into a fictitious marriage with Edward Henry (divorced in 1946) and acquired British citizenship.

In England, she was a leading member of the London ISK group worked on the ISK organ Socialist waiting with, participated in the keynote discussion on the democratic reconstruction of Germany and belonged to the established in March 1941 Executive Committee of the Union of German Socialist Organizations in Great Britain at, to which social democrats and the socialist groups Neu Beginnen , Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP) and International Socialist Combat League (ISK) had joined together.

Back in Bremen

After the war, Grete Henry-Hermann returned to Germany in 1946. Since 1947 she has been involved in the development of the Bremen University of Education (PH). She headed the construction and the school from 1947 to 1950 and then handed over the management to Hinrich Wulff . From 1950 to 1966 she was the deputy head of the PH and professor of philosophy and physics. The PH was integrated into the University of Bremen in 1973 .

Henry-Hermann has been involved in the educational work of the SPD and the trade unions since 1947 , was the head of the main pedagogical office of the Education and Science Union and was a member of the German Committee for Education from 1953 to 1965 .
From 1961 to 1978 she was chairman of the Philosophical-Political Academy founded by Nelson and re - established after the war , which drafted guidelines for the future development of the school system. In 1975 she published the writings of Nelson.

Estate and honors

  • Part of her estate is in the archive of social democracy of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Bonn .
  • Werner Heisenberg introduced Grete Hermann to Chapter 10 Quantum Mechanics and the Kantian Philosophy (1930–1932) of his book “The part and the whole. Conversations in the area of ​​atomic physics “set a permanent monument.
  • The Grete-Henry-Strasse in Göttingen was named after her.

Fonts

Books

  • 1935 The natural philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics. Treatises of the Fries School, NF Volume 6, Issue 2, DNB 573761019 , pp. 69–152. (also as a special print by Hirzel, Berlin)
  • 1937 About the basics of physical statements in older and modern theories. Treatises of the Fries School, NF Volume 6, Book 3 and 4, pp. 309-398. (also as a special print by Hirzel, Berlin)
  • 1937 with E. May E. and Th. Vogel: The importance of modern physics for the theory of knowledge. Hirzel, Leipzig, DNB 572193408 .
  • 1985 Overcoming chance. Critical considerations on Leonard Nelson's justification of ethics as science. Edited by Gustav Heckmann and Susanne Miller. Meiner, Hamburg, ISBN 3-7873-0658-7 .

Editorships

Individual work

  • 1935 The natural philosophical foundations of quantum mechanics . Die Naturwissenschaften, Volume 23, 1935, pp. 718-721
  • 1953 Overcoming chance. Leonard Nelson zum Gedächtnis, pp. 25–111 [also as a special edition publishing public life 1953].
  • 1973 The Significance of Behavior Study for the Critique of Reason. Ratio XV, No. 2, pp. 206–220 ( reproduction )

Literature, sources

  • Kay Herrmann (Ed.): Grete Henry-Hermann: Philosophy - Mathematics - Quantum Mechanics. Texts on natural philosophy and epistemology, mathematical-physical contributions and selected correspondence from the years 1925 to 1982 , Springer 2019
  • Elise Crull, Guido Bacciagaluppi (Eds.): Grete Hermann - between physics and philosophy , Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 42, Springer 2016 (with English translation of some of her work on quantum mechanics)
  • Fredericke Kersting: Henry-Hermann, Grete . In: Frauen Geschichte (n) , Bremer Frauenmuseum (Hrsg.), Edition Falkenberg, Bremen 2016 ISBN 978-3-95494-095-0
  • Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Teachers and helpers of the fulling mill
  2. ^ Léna Soler, Alexander Schnell: Grete Henry-Hermann's contributions to the philosophy of physics. In: Susanne Miller , Helmut Müller (ed. On behalf of the Philosophical-Political Academy ): In the tension between natural science, education and politics. For the 100th birthday of Grete Henry-Hermann. Bonn 2001, DNB 965201252 , p. 20.
  3. ↑ In her summary in the natural sciences in 1935 she did not go into her refutation of von Neumann's proof and she herself did not expose her criticism in later publications either.
  4. ↑ MP Seevinck: Challenging the gospel: Grete Hermann on von Neumann's no-hidden-variables proof , Radboud University Nijmegen 2012 (pdf).
  5. ^ Herbert Black Forest: The Great Bremen Lexicon. 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X .
personal data
SURNAME Hermann, Grete
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Henry-Hermann, Grete; Hermann, Margarethe Grete
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physicist and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremen
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1984
Place of death Bremen