Hildegard Hess

Hildegard Hess (born 1920 in Berlin-Britz, died 23 July 2014) was a German chemist.^[7] She was the first woman to become a Handelschemiker (professional consultant industrial chemist) and to direct an independent testing laboratory in Berlin, if not in all of Germany.^[1][6]

Life

Hess was born in Berlin-Britz.^[2] Her father, Ludwig Hess, was the director of a Riedel de Haën factory.^[2] Her mother, Hertha Hess, was a trained nurse.^[2] Her parents sent Hess to a monastery school from which she graduated in 1939.^[2] This school was closed by the National Socialists a year later.^[2] She began her studies at the Friedrich-Wilhelm University in Berlin,^[2] and later transferred to the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg.^[2] Among her professors were Georg Wittig and Hermann Staudinger.^[2] In 1944, Hess completed her training at the Reichsanstalt für Lebensmittel und Arzneimittelchemie in Berlin and became a state-certified food chemist, before joining the independent testing laboratory of her father, which he took over in 1931.^[2] Such analytical laboratories for food monitoring supplemented the state institutions.^[2] While working at her father's institute, Hess simultaneously studied for her doctorate with Josef Schormüller at the Institute of Food Chemistry of Technische Universität Berlin,^[4] which she finished in 1953.^[4] In 1954, she became the first publicly appointed female Handelschemiker (professional consultant industrial chemist) in Berlin.^[2] After her father's death in 1956, she took over his laboratory and continued his work until 1986.^[2] In addition to her work as a self-employed chemist, Hess taught as a lecturer.^[2] She conducted courses for food retailers in health food stores and from 1955 to 1965, taught nutritional science for students at Technische Universität Berlin.^[2] Maire MacSwiney Brugha probably regarded her as a friend.^[8]

References

1. GmbH, Institut Kirchhoff Berlin (2016). "Institut Kirchhoff Berlin GmbH". Institut Kirchhoff Berlin GmbH (in German). Retrieved 2019-01-19.
2. "Chemikerinnen" (PDF). www.gdch.de. Retrieved 2019-01-12.
3. "Gedenkseite von Hildegard Hess". trauer.tagesspiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-01-19.
4. Boeck, Gisela (2003). "Unabhängig ein Leben lang". Nachrichten aus der Chemie (in German). 51 (1): 67–68. doi:10.1002/nadc.20030510133. ISSN 1868-0054.
5. Kunert‐Kirchhoff, Jutta; Kirchhoff, Erhard (2014). "Frau Dr. Hildegard Hess". Lebensmittelchemie. 68 (5): 116. doi:10.1002/lemi.201490043. ISSN 1521-3811.
6. Johnson, Jeffrey A. (1998-12-01). "German women in chemistry, 1925–1945 (part II)". NTM International Journal of History & Ethics of Natural Sciences, Technology & Medicine. 6 (1): 65–90. doi:10.1007/BF02914207. ISSN 1420-9144. PMID 27518333. S2CID 33178544.
7. ^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}
8. Brugha, Máire MacSwiney (2014). History's daughter : a memoir from the only child of Terence MacSwiney. Dublin: The O'Brien Press. ISBN 9781847176233. OCLC 872992030.