Mathilde Carmen Hertz

Vocation

German biologist, who was one of the first influential women scientists in the field of biology and a pioneer in the field of comparative psychology. Working in Germany, her career started to unravel in 1933 due to her Jewish ancestry. She was the younger daughter of the famous physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz. In 1925, she completed a doctoral degree based on the analysis of primitive mammalian teeth. Once finished with her dissertation, she focused her attention on a different area. Influenced by renowned animal psychologist Wolfgang Koehler, she moved into the area of animal psychology. She moved to the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin, Germany, where she undertook much of her subsequent studies. With the help of Richard Goldschmidt, she overcame gender barriers and started running her own laboratory in Berlin. Here, in 1929, she completed a post-doctoral degree studying the optical fields of honeybees. Under the newly elected Nazi regime, she was forced to give up teaching due to her Jewish ancestry. She emigrated to the United Kingdom and continued her research at Cambridge University in 1935. She died relatively lonely and in poverty on 20 November 1975. Link to Wikipedia biography