Maria-Pia Geppert (May 28, 1907 – November 18, 1997) was a German mathematician and

biostatistician Biostatistics (also known as biometry) are the development and application of statistical methods to a wide range of topics in biology. It encompasses the design of biological experiments, the collection and analysis of data from those experimen ...

who co-founded the ''

Biometrical Journal ''Biometrical Journal'' covers statistical methods and their applications in life sciences including medicine, environmental sciences and agriculture. Typical articles contain both, the development of methodology and its application. At present, ar ...

''. Geppert was the first woman to become a full professor at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (german: Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen; la, Universitas Eberhardina Carolina), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Wü ...

. With

Emmy Noether Amalie Emmy NoetherEmmy is the ''Rufname'', the second of two official given names, intended for daily use. Cf. for example the résumé submitted by Noether to Erlangen University in 1907 (Erlangen University archive, ''Promotionsakt Emmy Noethe ...

Hilda Geiringer Hilda Geiringer (28 September 1893 – 22 March 1973), also known as Hilda von Mises and Hilda Pollaczek-Geiringer, was an Austrian mathematician. Life Geiringer was born in 1893 in Vienna, Austria into a Jewish family. Her father, Ludwig Geiri ...

Ruth Moufang Ruth Moufang (10 January 1905 – 26 November 1977) was a German mathematician. Biography Born to German chemist Eduard Moufang and Else Fecht Moufang. Eduard Moufang was the son of Friedrich Carl Moufang (1848-1885) from Mainz, and Elisab ...

, and

Hel Braun Helene (Hel) Braun (June 3, 1914 – May 15, 1986) was a German mathematician who specialized in number theory and modular forms. Her autobiography, ''The Beginning of A Scientific Career,'' described her experience as a female scientist working ...

, Geppert was one of only a handful of women to work in mathematics in Germany before World War II and later convert their degrees into research careers as full professors.

Early life and education

Geppert was born in Breslau, with Italian descent through her mother. Breslau is now

Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...

, in Poland, but at that time it was part of the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

. Her older brother, also became a mathematician, and a supporter of the Nazis. She studied mathematics in Breslau and in

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univers ...

, and in 1932 completed a doctorate at the

University of Breslau 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 ...

. Her dissertation, ''Approximative Darstellungen analytischer Funktionen, die durch Dirichletsche Reihen gegeben sind'', concerned

analytic number theory In mathematics, analytic number theory is a branch of number theory that uses methods from mathematical analysis to solve problems about the integers. It is often said to have begun with Peter Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet's 1837 introduction of Diric ...

and was supervised by

Guido Hoheisel Guido Karl Heinrich Hoheisel (14 July 1894 – 11 October 1968) was a German mathematician and professor of mathematics at the University of Cologne. Academic life He did his PhD in 1920 from the University of Berlin under the supervision of Er ...

Edmund Landau Edmund Georg Hermann Landau (14 February 1877 – 19 February 1938) was a German mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and complex analysis. Biography Edmund Landau was born to a Jewish family in Berlin. His father was Leopold ...

, in his last publication before Hitler came to power, commented unfavorably on one of her papers. Next, Geppert moved to Rome, where from 1933 to 1936 she studied actuarial science and

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ''wikt:Statistik#German, Statistik'', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of ...

for a second doctorate under the supervision of

Guido Castelnuovo Guido Castelnuovo (14 August 1865 – 27 April 1952) was an Italian mathematician. He is best known for his contributions to the field of algebraic geometry, though his contributions to the study of statistics and probability theory are also signi ...

. She completed a

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

in 1942 at the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von L ...

. Her dissertation was ''Comparison of Two Observed Frequencies''. write that her habilitation dissertation was "important but forgotten" because of the circumstances of the war, and they adopt her title for their own.

Career

In 1940, Geppert became director of the Department of Epidemiology and Statistics for the William G. Kerckhoff Heart Research Institute in

Bad Nauheim Bad Nauheim is a town in the Wetteraukreis district of Hesse state of Germany. As of 2020, Bad Nauheim has a population of 32,493. The town is approximately north of Frankfurt am Main, on the east edge of the Taunus mountain range. It is a worl ...

, later to become the

Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research International Max Planck Research School for Heart and Lung Research, also known as IMPRS for Heart and Lung Research, is a three-year graduate program offering studies in the field of heart, blood vessel and lung biology. Research areas cover d ...

. She joined

Goethe University Frankfurt Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...

in 1943, as a lecturer in biostatistics. In 1964 she became chair for medical biometry at the

. In doing so, she became the first female full professor at the University of Tübingen. She retired in 1975.

''Biometrical Journal''

With Ottokar Heinisch, Geppert founded the ''

'' in 1959. She was co-editor-in-chief with Heinisch from its founding until 1966, and remained co-editor-in-chief with until 1969.

Recognition

In 1951, Geppert became the first German elected into the

International Statistical Institute The International Statistical Institute (ISI) is a professional association of statisticians. It was founded in 1885, although there had been international statistical congresses since 1853. The institute has about 4,000 elected members from gov ...

in the post-war period. She also became an honorary member of the

International Biometric Society The International Biometric Society (IBS) is an international professional and academic society promoting the development and application of statistical and mathematical theory and methods in the biosciences, including biostatistics. It sponsors ...

in 1965, the first person from the German region of the society to be so honored.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geppert, Maria Pia 1907 births 1997 deaths 20th-century German mathematicians Biostatisticians German statisticians German women mathematicians Academic staff of Goethe University Frankfurt Women statisticians University of Breslau alumni Academic staff of the University of Tübingen 20th-century women mathematicians 20th-century German women