History of Women Philosophers and Scientists

01/09/2026

Rediscovering the Women of Early Phenomenology
Research at the Center HWPS sheds light on the lives, work, and intellectual networks of women who helped shape the early phenomenological movement.
As research continues to uncover the intellectual networks surrounding the early phenomenological movement, it is becoming increasingly clear that women were not marginal participants in this history. They were active scholars, thinkers, and interlocutors who contributed to the development of phenomenological philosophy and its wider intellectual culture.
This project aims to shed new light on their lives and work, with particular focus on Edith Stein, Hedwig Conrad-Martius, and Gerda Walther.
Recent scholarship has brought greater attention to these three remarkable thinkers and, more broadly, to the women who studied and worked within the intellectual circles of Edmund Husserl, Theodor Lipps, and Alexander Pfänder. Their contributions open up new perspectives on the history of phenomenology and invite us to reconsider the movement not simply as a history of its best-known male philosophers, but as a diverse intellectual and social network.
Among the women whose lives and philosophical activities deserve further investigation are Erika Gothe and Margarete Ortmann, who studied in Göttingen; Margarete Calinich and Else Voigtländer in Munich; and Erica Sehl and Amelie Jaegerschmid in Freiburg. Together, these figures point towards a much richer and more complex history of early phenomenology—one that is still waiting to be fully explored.
Researching Unpublished Sources
At the Center HWPS, current research focuses particularly on [...] For further information: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/project/women-in-early-phenomenology/

29/08/2026

25/08/2026

Dear Annie Jourdain we will be there. Thank you for your support to revive the memory of

La femme qui traduira Newton en français se voit refuser l'entrée du café où ses confrères discutent de physique.

Elle s'appelle Émilie du Châtelet. Nous sommes en 1734, à Paris.

Le café s'appelle chez Gradot. C'est là que Maupertuis, Clairaut et les autres se retrouvent pour parler de mathématiques.

Deux portes lui sont fermées, et pour la même raison. Les séances de l'Académie des sciences sont interdites aux femmes. Les cafés aussi.

Elle fait alors confectionner un habit d'homme et se présente à la porte.

On la laisse entrer. Elle va s'asseoir à la table de Maupertuis.

Ses amis l'applaudissent et commandent un café pour elle. Les patrons font mine de ne rien voir : ils tiennent à leur clientèle.

Elle deviendra une habituée.

Elle traduit ensuite les Principia de Newton en français, et y ajoute un commentaire qui explique le calcul.

Elle démontre aussi, par l'expérience, que l'énergie d'un corps en mouvement dépend du carré de sa vitesse.

Elle meurt à Lunéville le 10 septembre 1749, à quarante-deux ans, quelques jours après un accouchement.

Sa traduction de Newton paraît en 1756. Sept ans après sa mort.

Elle fait encore autorité aujourd'hui.

C'est toujours la seule traduction française complète des Principia.

𝗤𝘂𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗱 𝘂𝗻 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗹𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘀 ?

21/08/2026

Muller, J. (Ed.). (2026). Food, plants, remedies and healing practices: Women’s ideas in the history of medicine. Springer Nature Switzerland: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-17766-7

About this book:
This book examines the contributions of women to the history of philosophy and medicine, as well as the traditional medical knowledge that has been employed in households. Women have played integral roles in the history of medicine, often serving as healers, caretakers, midwives and guardians of traditional knowledge surrounding food, plants, remedies, and healing practices. However, women’s writings are often overlooked or marginalized in mainstream narratives because they did not […]

About the editor:
Jil Muller is Deputy Head of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, Postdoctoral Researcher, and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Paderborn University.
Her research combines the history of medicine with the history of philosophy. She specializes in the medical traditions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with particular attention to women thinkers and their understandings of the body, mechanism, and humourism. Her work also focuses on the moral philosophy of early modern […]

Further information: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/journals/journal/food-plants-remedies-and-healing-practices-womens-ideas-in-the-history-of-medicine/

10/08/2026

Du Chatelet is read as a criticism of Newtonian absolute time, or an acceptance of Leibnizian relational time. Du Châtelet however explains the genesis of temporal objectivity. “The notion of time is born from the succession of our ideas and not from the movement of exterior bodies” (2009:6.101) Du Châtelet argues that any measuring of time does not exist independently of the subject that experiences time. Neither Motion, nor clocks generate time, rather it is our mind that generates the notion of time (2009:6.108)
Therefore also the possibility of measuring time does not exist independently of the perceiving mind. Our knowledge and measurement of time originate in the mind’s awareness of the duration of its own existence and of the beings that coexist with it: “All measures of Time are founded only on the duration of our Being, & on that of the Beings who coexist with us, & whose existence we relate to the idea we have of our own” (2009:6.115).
The mind abstracts from all their particular determinations and only retains succession. It thereby creates “an ideal being” consisting in “a uniform flow” (2009:6.96). Du Châtelet calls this the ideal time: “a being composed of successive, continuous parts without internal differences” (2009:6.101). The imagination thus constructs ideal time as an abstract continuum of homogeneous succession, providing a common measure by which successive beings may be compared. (2025,71). […]

Full ECC entry: https://ecc.historyofwomenphilosophers.org/ =Ruth%20Edith%20Hagengruber

07/08/2026

We are pleased to announce the publication of The History of Women Philosophers: Festschrift in Honour of Mary Ellen Waithe, edited by Ruth Edith Hagengruber. Published by Springer in the series Women in the History of Philosophy and Sciences (Vol. 26), the volume honours the pioneering work of Mary Ellen Waithe and her outstanding contribution to the history of women philosophers.

About the Book
This book is a tribute to one of the most influential philosophers in the history of philosophy in recent times. With her four-volume work title “A History of Women Philosophers” and the volume of the non-Western history of philosophers, published in 2024, Mary Ellen Waithe’s writings have an international significance. Colleagues and friends, who have been companions for many years, have gathered in this book to honor her work. Contributions from the Middle Ages to the present, from the philosophy of religion to logic, cover a broad field that will attract equally broad interest. An otherwise unencountered collection of ideas is presented here, united by the bond of research into the history of women philosophers.

About Mary Ellen Waithe
Mary Ellen Waithe is Professor Emerita of Philosophy at Cleveland State University, where she taught until her retirement in 2015. From 2016 to 2019, she served as a project advisor to the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists and supported the Center’s ECC project.

Together with Prof. Dr. Ruth Edith Hagengruber, Waithe also founded the Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists (JHWS), the world’s first journal dedicated to restoring and discussing the history of texts written by and about women philosophers. As founding editor-in-chief, Waithe played a central role in establishing the journal as an international platform for research on women in the history of philosophy and science.

Further information: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/journals/journal/new-publication-the-history-of-women-philosophers-festschrift-in-honour-of-mary-ellen-waithe/

03/08/2026

A very brief look back at last week’s 10 years celebration of the Center… We were delighted to welcome you all, thank you!

29/07/2026

A Memorandum of Understanding between Islamic University of Science & Technology, Kashmir, India and Universität Paderborn was signed during the celebration of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists. This agreement formalizes a cooperation that began in 2022, when Professor Ali Malla participated in the initiative 1,000 Places in 1 World: Women Philosophers Around the Globe as co-founder of the Collective for Women Philosophers in India.
Thank you to Prof. Matthias Bauer, President of Universität Paderborn. It was a pleasure also to welcome Jürgen Janke from Wirtschaftsförderung Paderborn to attend our celebration as well as Deputy Mayor of Paderborn, Sabine Kramm and Head of Constituency Office & Spokesman East Westphalia-Lippe for Verena Mertens MEP Hartwig Höschen. (cc Fotos: F. Thielemann, Paderborn University). Ruth Hagengruber

29/07/2026

It is my great pleasure and honor that Universität Paderborn is signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the Philippines Diliman University of the Philippines.
I am delighted that the excellent collaboration with Professor Tess Payongayong—who first visited the Center in 2017 and who has worked closely with the Center for the of Women Philosophers ever since—is now leading to a formal partnership between our two universities.
I would also like to note that Professor Payongayong and I jointly edit the book series Women in Ecology, Economics, Technology, and Gender, published by De Gruyter. I believe this is a strong indication of our long-standing and continuing cooperation.
Professor Payongayong expressed her pleasure and honor to sign this Memorandum of Understanding between the University of the Philippines Diliman with its long-standing partner, Paderborn University. The Memorandum of Understanding signed during the 10Years Celebration of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists reaffirmed the shared commitment to advancing academic collaboration in the field of Philosophy.
President Bauer from Universität Paderborn, Prof. Payongayong and the Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Diliman, Prof. Atty. Edgardo Carlo L. Vistan II, signed the MoU during the 10Years Ceremony of the . Thanks to President Bauer for supporting this MoU, together with our IO Stefan Schwan (Fotos: F. Thielemann UPB cc) Ruth Hagengruber

28/07/2026

Awarded during the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists at Paderborn University. The Elisabeth of Bohemia Prize, donated by Professor Dr. Ulrike Detmers, will once again be awarded by Prof. Dr. Ruth Edith Hagengruber to honor outstanding academic contributions that advance the recognition of women in the history of philosophy. This year’s laureates of the endowed prize (3,000 EUR) are Luka Boršić and Ivana Skuhala Karasman from the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatia, in recognition of their exceptional contributions to the history of women philosophers, particularly in Southeastern Europe, and their longstanding collaboration with the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.
Luka Boršić is a researcher based at the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatia. His research highlights the history of women philosophers, especially from Southeastern Europe. He has been a key figure in collaborations with the Centre for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists at Paderborn University, particularly together with Ivana Skuhala Karasman as a guest editor of the Journal of the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists.
Ivana Skuhala Karasman is a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb, Croatia. She is working on the history of Women Philosophers in southeast Europe. Since 2017 she is fellow at the Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists who has several visiting stays at Paderborn University. Together with Dr. Dr. Luka Boršić she has organized several conference contributions to various center events like the famous Libori Summer Schools.

Further information: https://historyofwomenphilosophers.org/elisabeth-of-bohemia-prize/