Lieselott Herforth

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Lieselott Herforth 1970 during the 25th GDR State Council meeting in Berlin

Lieselott Herforth (born September 13, 1916 in Altenburg ; † November 30, 2010 in Dresden ) was a German physicist and politician . She was a member of the State Council and the People's Chamber of the GDR . In addition, she was rector of the TU Dresden from 1965 to 1968, making her the first woman to head a university in Germany as rector.

Life

Born as the daughter of the bank director, business advisor and later writer and publisher Walter Herforth , Lieselott Herforth graduated from the Rückert-Oberlyzeum in Berlin-Schöneberg in 1936. From 1936 she studied physics and mathematics at the Technical University of Berlin , where she worked as an assistant for physics and mathematics in 1938. She successfully completed her studies in 1940 with the academic degree of graduate engineer . In 1943 Herforth worked as an assistant at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin and at the University of Leipzig . Then she was employed as a physicist in the Oberspreewerk Berlin-Oberschöneweide in 1946 . At the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem, she worked from 1947 to 1948 as a research assistant and in 1948 at the Technical University Berlin with Hartmut Kallman to Dr.-Ing. PhD . In 1953 she completed her habilitation at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig on the basics of fluorescence applications in medicine. This made her the third woman to study in the GDR and the seventh to do her habilitation in the traditionally male-dominated subject of physics in Germany since the Weimar Republic.

After her habilitation, Herforth received a lectureship for radiation physics at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig. From 1955 to 1960 Herforth was a research assistant at the Institute for Applied Radioactivity in Leipzig. At the same time, Herforth worked from 1957 to 1960 as a professor with a teaching position for applied radioactivity at the Technical University of Leuna-Merseburg and in 1960 followed a call to the Technical University of Dresden , where she taught as a professor in the same field and from 1962 as a professor for the application of radioactive isotopes . She also became director of the Institute for the Application of Radioactive Isotopes at the Faculty of Mathematics. From 1965 to 1968 Herforth was the rector of the Technical University of Dresden , making it the first woman rector at a university in Germany. From 1969 to 1977 Herforth taught as a full professor for experimental physics or radioactivity and dosimetry at the Physics Section of the Technical University of Dresden.

Political activities

From 1963 to 1981 Herforth was a member of the Volkskammer in the parliamentary group of the Free German Trade Union Confederation for four electoral terms , and during the same period she was a member of the SED on the State Council of the GDR.

In 1966 she became a member of the Technical and University Council of the Ministry of Higher and Technical Education.

Memberships

Herforth was a member of the Chemical Society as well as the Biophysical Society of the GDR. In the Scientific Council for the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy , founded in 1955 by a resolution of the Council of Ministers of the GDR, Herforth was a member of the commission for young talent and training issues.

Awards

Herforth was made a full member of the German Academy of Sciences in 1969. In 1971 she received the GDR National Prize for Science and Technology . In 1974 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Chemical Industry, Veszprém in Hungary . In 1977 she was awarded the Humboldt Medal in Gold. In 1982 the TU Dresden made Herforth an honorary senator . Herforth was awarded the GDR Patriotic Order of Merit in silver (1964) and gold (1981), the Order of Labor Banner (1966), the NVA's medal of merit in gold and twice as an activist and member of a “collective of socialist work”.

Works (selection)

  • 1948: The fluorescence excitation of organic substances with alpha particles, fast electrons and gamma rays (diss.)
  • 1958: Ultrasound: Basics and applications in physics, technology, biology and medicine
  • 1964: Women in technology and natural sciences (in: Das Hochschulwesen , 12/1964)
  • 1968: Practical course in applied radioactivity
  • 1979: Neutron personal dosimetry
  • 1981: Internship in radioactivity and radiochemistry

literature

Web links

Commons : Lieselott Herforth  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Waltraud Voss: Lieselott Herforth. The first female rector of a German university. Transcript, Bielefeld 2016.
  2. ↑ a b Pommerin, Hänseroth, Petschel: 175 years of TU Dresden. The professors of the TU Dresden 1828–2003. Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2003, p. 357.
  3. ^ A b Renate Strohmeier: Lexicon of the natural scientists and women of Europe with natural knowledge. From antiquity to the 20th century. Harri Deutsch publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 1998.
  4. ↑ a b c The Council of State of the German Democratic Republic 1960-1970: Documentation. Staatsverlag d. German Democratic Republic, 1970.
  5. ^ Yearbook of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, Akademie-Verlag, 1959.
  6. ^ Activity report of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Research community of natural science, technical and medical institutes. Academy Publishing House. 1960.
  7. ↑ Lieselott Herforth , Internationales Biographisches Archiv 35/1982 of August 23, 1982, in the Munzinger Archive , accessed on December 7, 2010 ( beginning of article freely accessible)
personal data
SURNAME Herforth, Lieselott
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German experimental physicist, politician (FDGB), MdV
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Altenburg
DATE OF DEATH November 30, 2010
Place of death Dresden