Margarete von Wrangell: Brave & determined

Was Margarete von Wrangell just an exception?

Little Margarete was born on the second day of Christmas in 1876. Her parents, the Russian General Baron Karl Fabian von Wrangell (1839–1899) and his wife Julie Ida Marie von Wrangell, belonged to the Baltic-German nobility with considerable land holdings. Margarete was their third child, and they translated the flower name Margerite into English and named their child Daisy.

From a young age, Daisy not only learned several languages but also lived in various cities due to her father’s relocations as an officer – first in Moscow, later in Reval, today’s Tallinn. In noble circles, it was customary for children to receive private instruction. Thus, Margarete read famous writers like Homer and Virgil in the original, wrote short stories, and engaged in painting. She had many interests.

When the family moved to Reval, Margarete attended a German girls’ school. Natural science and philosophy were among her favorite subjects. But above all, she was interested in mathematics. In 1894, she passed the teaching exam with distinction and subsequently worked for a few years as a private teacher for natural sciences.

And she knew how to assert herself.

Against the current

Although Margarete von Wrangell had a strong character, she was not immune to crises. Perhaps it was because she lost her grandfather, father, and both sisters in a short span of time, who died in the years 1888 and 1889.

She wrote to a friend: “I tried religion. Then I tried philosophy; all empty intellectual propositions and never a little bit of life or benefit from it. So this is the life one looked forward to? Is there really nothing gripping, alive, worth living for?” Margarete von Wrangell suffered from depression.

Yet she always knew what she wanted. Or what she didn’t want. “Marrying is good – not marrying is better.” But that was precisely the path many young women took. Their education ended after school, they looked for a “good match,” got married, and became housewives. Studying was out of the question for most women. In Württemberg, girls were only allowed to take the Abitur (university entrance exam) from 1893 onwards – but that was a prerequisite for studying.

Perhaps it was her brother Nikolai who encouraged her on her path. A few years earlier, he had fulfilled his dream and enrolled in a chemistry course in Zurich. Margarete admired him and always described how diligently he studied. But then Nikolai fell ill with tuberculosis and died before he could complete his studies. Was it his fate that sealed Margarete’s decision?

We don’t know, but in 1903 Margarete von Wrangell secretly attended a botanical summer academy at the University of Greifswald. She disguised her stay there as a visit to a sanatorium. Afterwards, her decision was clear: she wanted to study. However, since she only had a teaching diploma from Reval, which was not recognized in Germany for university studies, she could only enroll as an auditor. The University of Tübingen was among the first to allow women to study, and Margarete von Wrangell began her studies in chemistry and botany there at the age of 27 – to general astonishment.

Together with her mother and aunt, Margarete moved to Tübingen. However, she was not a typical student. As a noblewoman, she moved in high society, rode horses, played tennis, and even undertook a bicycle tour to Venice. When her mother and aunt returned to Estonia, she got a roommate. Her friend from Reval, Ebba Husen, now shared the apartment with her. Thus, Margarete von Wrangell led a life that was very unusual for women of her time.

The only women among professors

The negotiations were tough. A woman as a professor – moreover, the first in Germany! Many professors at the conservatively oriented Hohenheim University couldn’t imagine it. Resistance quickly arose in the university senate. Some openly doubted whether a woman could lead an institute with predominantly male staff.

However, Margarete von Wrangell used her contacts, and the financiers threatened to establish the institute elsewhere. This threat was the breakthrough. Margarete von Wrangell was appointed as a professor of plant nutrition at the Agricultural College of Hohenheim.

But the criticism did not subside. The professors in Hohenheim resented her for being appointed without a proper appointment procedure. And the agricultural chemist Paul Ehrenberg confronted her with allegations of plagiarism. His accusation: Margarete von Wrangell had used Russian works in her habilitation without citation. These disputes had no legal consequences, and the allegations fizzled out.

Margarete von Wrangell indeed had a tough time. Perhaps that’s why she appeared “brusque” and “domineering” because she had to assert herself in a male-dominated environment. In any case, her relationship with her colleagues was not easy, and although she was attributed with a sense of humor, she was considered arrogant.

In a letter to her mother in 1923, she wrote: “I have many battles in my profession. I am the first tenured female professor in Germany. Moreover, I have been publicly recognized by some scientific luminaries. This has earned me the hostility of many; but my institute is a creation that will remain of lasting value and benefit, and despite great worry and workload, it still brings me joy. In any case, I know what I’m fighting for.”

Nevertheless, Margarete von Wrangell was extraordinarily successful in her research. She published numerous articles in professional journals and supervised 16 doctoral students. She also was involved in the German Association of Academic Women and was a member of its first board. At the age of 51, she finally decided to do what she had always rejected.

Curriculum Vitae of Margarete von Wrangell

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