Grete Hermann

Grete Hermann (2 March 1901 – 15 April 1984) was a German mathematician, philosopher, theoretical physicist, writer, and educator. She is known for her foundational work in quantum mechanics and computer algebra; her writings on political philosophy; and her work with the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK) in opposition to Nazism.

Hermann worked on reconciling the neo-Kantian conception of causality with quantum mechanics. This work led to her critique of Von Neumann's no hidden variables proof. Her criticism was long ignored; it was discovered in 1974 by Max Jammer who publicized it. In 1936, Hermann shared in the award of the Richard Avenarius prize. She was the first graduate student of Emmy Noether and she published the posthumous works of others, including that of Leonard Nelson.

Between 1927 and 1940, Hermann published a number of anti-Nazi articles under various pseudonyms in Der Funke and Sozialistische Warte, publications edited by Willi Eichler. Due to her involvement with the ISK, Hermann had to flee Nazi Germany until the conclusion of World War II. During her exile, she was a leader of the Union of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain.

In her later years, she co-founded the philosophical journal Ratio, where she was a member of the editorial board until her death. She also became the first head at the Bremen Pedagogical University, a teacher education university, which later integrated into the University of Bremen after her retirement. After the death of Minna Specht, with whom she worked and lived for many years, she took over leadership of Philosophisch-Politische Akademie and became withdrawn from public life, focused on critical philosophy and refining Nelsonian ethics. She died in 1984 in Bremen.