Many prominent and important women who work in and around science are not attributed the credit they deserve for their work, and that fact remains true when you take a broader look into the past few centuries. Marie Curie is the usual name to throw around for a lack of credit in her time, but she is only one amongst the many who were denied the acclaim they deserved, most of whom still lack any form of recognition.
So we did some research and wrote a Wikipedia Article for her, and furthermore wrote a Biography that let us include the juicy details that the stringent nature of Wikipedia did not permit mentioning. (The reason for writing a Wiki article was that the relative representation of men and women in the sciences is heavily favoring men, and often the achievements of women when presented are deemed insufficiently important for their inclusion. That, however, is a subjective claim that proposes two interpretations: either women contributed nearly nothing worthwhile to science over the past few centuries with notable exception, or there's a consistent, occasionally unconscious, bias to devalue the work of women. As any shallow delve into history will tell you, the problem is not a lack of women doing worthwhile work.)
The notable figure that we (I worked with another student on the Wiki-article) chose was Grete L. Bibring, a woman who was a contemporary of Dr. Freud who fled the Nazis during the second World War and was friends with a Princess (Marie Bonaparte.) That there had not already been an article on her was a travesty I'm glad to have been able to help in undoing.
I hope you enjoy a brief delve into an interesting person's life, and that it serves as a reminder that there have always existed interesting, influential people from the marginalized communities, you just have to take a closer look to see them (and maybe help bring their story to light now that we live in an age where information is readily available and shareable.)
Have yourself a lovely day, enjoy this piece, and see you Monday for something else!
(References at the end of the piece, or get the originally formatted file here.)
Grete Lehner Bibring (a Biography) by Mac Clevinger
Grete Lehner Bibring, born Lehner, was an Austrian psychoanalyst in the early-to-mid 1900’s who contributed greatly to the field she studied, holding numerous esteemed positions and publishing many papers during a career that would stretch from Austria to America as the Nazi invasion of her homeland forced her to flee Europe. In transit with Anna and Sigmund Freud, her family stopped first at England before continuing to America where, some years later, she would become not just the first female full professor at Harvard Medical School, but also the President of the Boston Psychoanalytic Society, the Vice President of the International Psychoanalytic Society, the President of the American Psychoanalytic Society, both Director of Psychiatric Research and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Beth Israel Hospital, and elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (SNAC). It is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that Grete would find herself working to treat patients of their ailments up until a few weeks before she passed away in 1977 (Revolvy), after nearly forty years of not just performing her work and research to further the theory and practices of psychoanalysis but being a cornerstone of the field and the organizations that grew up around it (WGBH).
Born on January 11, 1899 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, Grete Lehner was the youngest of four children (Murphy, Jessica) born to parents that had done well for themselves in business, belonging to a class of ‘Jewish intellectual bourgeoisie’ (Encyclopedia.com). While non-practicing religiously, the family was very involved with the society around them, hosting many dinner parties that would leave an imprint on a young Grete. The wealth brought on from her family’s business – her father owning a factory – gave her an appreciation for music, science, and the arts, interests that she would carry with her as her education began at the girls’ school ‘Akademisches Gymnasium’, or the ‘Humanistic Gymnasium for Girls’. She excelled at Greek and Latin, but more importantly became familiar with the works of Sigmund Freud, which served to greatly inspire her later career (Revolvy).