Mary Hegeler Carus

Edward Carl Hegeler set up and ran the Matthiessen-Hegeler Zinc Company in La Salle with his college friend Frederick William Matthiessen.

[1] Mary Hegeler took the unusual step for a woman of her time period in pursuing a college career.

She attended school at La Salle, and at the age of sixteen we find her working in the weigh-office of the zinc plant.

She then went over to her father's old home at Freiberg, attending lectures on metallurgy in the Mining Academy, and working in the laboratory of her uncle, the famous chemist Clemens Winkler.

A letter of recommendation from her cousin Clemens Winkler ensured that her application was approved and she became the first woman to be legally enrolled.

[1] Whilst she was a student in his laboratory, Winkler discovered and successfully isolated the element Germanium (Ge) in the mineral argyrodite.

[7][1] By 1903 she was Chief Executive and President of the company, although lost this role for a while after her father's death in 1910 due to family disagreements.

[1] In 2012, TU Bergakademie Freiberg introduced the Mary Hegeler Scholarship, to be awarded annually to support young women scientists in their habilitation or post-doctoral work.