[2] Linden was born in 1869 to a German aristocratic family who lived at Schloss Burgberg [de] near Heidenheim, Kingdom of Württemberg (now Baden-Württemberg).

[4] In 1891, after private tutoring and clearance from a minister, she became the first woman in the Kingdom of Württemberg to take (and pass) the "Reifeprüfung" university entrance examination.

[5] Despite her exam results and pressure from her uncle, ex-minister Joseph von Linden, she was not able to gain admittance to Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen and was forced to resume tutoring in private.

[4] She continued her study of math and physics, and wrote papers on natural history as she learned about Lamarckian evolution from the zoologist Theodor Eimer.

[6] In 1903, Linden was awarded the Da Gama Machado prize for her research into the development of colour in butterfly wings.

In 2021, the University of Tübingen established the annual Maria von Linden Lecture, to promote women in life sciences.