Selenka, Margarethe Lenore (1860-1922)

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Jane Addams to Charlotte Perkins Gilman, November 2, 1904

David Starr Jordan to Jane Addams, October 26, 1915

Florence Kelley to Mary Rozet Smith, May 22, 1919

Margarethe Lenore Selenka to Jane Addams, November 28, 1916

Eleanor Daggett Karsten to Margarete Selenka, December 4, 1916

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Birth Date

1860-10-07

Death Date

1922-12-16

Birthplace

Hamburg, Germany

Biographical Text

Margarethe Selenka was one of the first female scientists to have her work widely recognized. Selenka started her career when she became an assistant for her second husband, Emil Selenka, a zoology professor at the University of Erlangen. She traveled with her husband to the Dutch East Indies to study apes, and when her husband had to return to Germany due to an illness, Selenka stayed to continue their research. In 1895 Selenka and her husband moved to Munich, and she became a professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University. She also became very active in the feminist-pacifist movement. She and her husband continued their anthropological work while she also advocated for peace, becoming a member of the radical feminist group Verband fortschrittlicher Frauenvereine and later the group Bund für Mutterschutz und Sexualreform.

Selenka married Ferdinand Neubürger in 1886, later ending in divorce. She married Emil Selenka in 1893. Selenka died in 1912.

Occupation

Anthropologist

Peace activist

Professor

Women's rights activist

Zoologist

Collection

People

Map

Edited By

Hajo, Cathy Moran

Lichon, Sara Catherine

Bradley, Ed

Rights

Public domain

Gender

Female

First appears

1904

Bibliography and Links

Wikipedia

Citation

“Selenka, Margarethe Lenore (1860-1922),” Jane Addams Digital Edition, accessed May 17, 2024, https://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/3335.