Anna Helene Koch ( Boyksen; 11 August 1881 – 1920) was the first female engineering student at the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

Life

Anna Boyksen was born on 11 August 1881 in Havendorfersand,

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg (, also known as Holstein-Oldenburg) was a grand duchy within the German Confederation, North German Confederation and German Empire that consisted of three widely separated territories: Oldenburg, Eutin and Birke ...

, to Dietrich Anton Boyksen, a merchant, and his wife Mathilde, née Lubben. In her curriculum vitae, Boyksen claimed her nationality as Bavarian and religion as

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

. In 1906, she enrolled in the Institute of Electrical Engineering of the

and obtained the

Vordiplom A ''Diplom'' (, from grc, δίπλωμα ''diploma'') is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, ...

two years later. She then studied economics and law at the

University of Erlangen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

. In 1911, she defended her dissertation, titled ''Die deutschen Börsenordnungen. Eine vergleichende Darstellung'' (The German Stock Exchange Regulations. A Comparative Representation), under her married name Anna Helene Koch.

Legacy

The ''Anna Boyksen Diversity Research Center'' at TUM "explores human diversity and the opportunities of diversity for society. Its work focuses on a question often overlooked in Germany: How can the natural, engineering and life sciences benefit from a more diverse community culture?" The ''Anna Boyksen Fellowship'' has been offered by the

TUM Institute for Advanced Study The TUM Institute for Advanced Study (TUM-IAS) is a scientific institution of the Technische Universität München, conducting research in science, engineering and humanities. Its building is located on its Garching campus. Projects The proje ...

since 2014. The Fellowship is granted to outstanding international scholars and researchers who wish to probe gender / diversity-related problems in the Natural and Engineering Sciences, in collaboration with TUM researchers. The two-year Fellowship was created to help advance TUM's goal to become "Germany's most attractive university for women" and to foster a productive and durable exchange of ideas and solutions on an international level.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyksen, Anna 1881 births 1920 deaths Year of death missing German women engineers Technical University of Munich alumni University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni Engineers from Bavaria