Maria Lipp (1892–1966): Chemistry pioneer in Aachen

As the first woman, Maria Lipp obtained a doctorate at Aachen Technical University. She remained loyal to her alma mater throughout her life. She completed her habilitation in organic chemistry in Aachen and was eventually appointed the first full professor at RWTH Aachen University.

Maria Lipp (née Savelsberg) was born on 6 April 1892 in Stolberg in the Rhineland, the daughter of a long-established local family. Her father, a graduate engineer and senior building official, inspired her enthusiasm for the natural sciences at an early age. After completing her Abitur, the highly intelligent engineer’s daughter enrolled at the Technical University (TH) in nearby Aachen, today’s RWTH Aachen University. She was only the eighth female student there and soon became the favourite pupil of the organic chemist and Privy Councillor Julius Bredt (1855-1937). The bachelor adopted the ambitious student, even though her parents were still alive.

In 1917, now called Bredt-Savelsberg, she passed her diploma examination with distinction. Just one year later, she became the first woman at Aachen Technical University to receive a Dr.-Ing. doctorate, also with distinction. Under the supervision of her adoptive father, her doctoral thesis examined the organic compounds β-methylcamphor and 2-methylcamphoric acid. She expanded on this subject in her habilitation thesis, completed in 1923. The thesis was entitled “Chemistry of Hydroaromatic Compounds, Chemistry of Camphor and Terpenes”.

At Bredt’s institute, the young chemist met her future husband, Peter Lipp (1885-1947), a professor of organic chemistry in Aachen. After their marriage in 1925, she took his name. She initially remained as an assistant at the Aachen institute, but was then given teaching assignments in dye chemistry, including at the dyeing school of the University of Upper Alsace in Mulhouse. After periods in Graz and Zurich, she returned to Aachen in 1938 and was initially appointed an extraordinary professor and later a full professor of organic chemistry. This made her the first female professor at RWTH Aachen University.

After the Second World War, the married professors Lipp rebuilt the chemical institute of Aachen Technical University. Even after her husband’s death in 1947, Lipp remained loyal to “her” university. On 2 May 1949, she was confirmed as a full professor at Aachen Technical University. From 1954 to 1956, she was dean of her faculty.

Maria Lipp died in Aachen on 12 December 1966. She was buried beside her husband in the Old Cemetery in Bad Honnef.

Literature
U. Kalkmann: Die Technische Hochschule Aachen im Dritten Reich (1933-1945), Verlag Mainz, 2003

R. Rappmann: Die erste Promotion einer Frau, in: Ausstellung der Hochschulbibliothek anlässlich des 125-jährigen Bestehens der Technischen Hochschule Aachen, Dokumentation Aachen, 1996, S. 40, 59

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Lipp