User:Boeckmana1/Hertha von Dechend

Hertha von Dechend, of Kronburg, Germany, was a professor of the history of science at the University of Frankfurt am Main Institute for the History of Science. Her fields of interest included ethnology, philosophy, history, and archaeology. Her most popular and influential work, co-authored with Giorgio de Santillana, was Hamlet's Mill, a book that contributed to significant speculation on relationships among ancient astronomy, astrology, archaeoastronomy, and comparative mythology.

=Life= Hertha von Dechend was born on October 5, 1915 in Heidelberg, Germany. When she was thirteen, she was given lessons by violinist Gösta Andreasson of the Busch Quartet. At the age of fifteen she opted follow her interests in science but continued to play violin in string quartets.

When she was nineteen, von Dechend began informal studies at the Museum für Völkerkunde in Frankfurt, since 2001 known as as the Museum der Weltkulturen(Museum of World Cultures). The museum was directed by ethnologist Leo Frobenius until his death in 1938. At first, von Deschend lacked permission to study (Studienerlaubnis), but managed to obtain a certificate (Abiturzeugnis). Her difficulties were related to her staunch and public opposition to Nazism, which led her to disguise her interests with focuses on archaeology and the study of ancient languages.

After performing her obligatory national service (Arbeitsdienst), Von Dechend enrolled at the University of Frankfurt am Main (the Johann‐Wolfgang‐Goethe University). In 1939, during World War 2, she completed her doctoral thesis on an ethnological subject: “the cultic and mythological meaning of the pig in Indonesia and Oceania.” In 1943, von Dechend held a half-time position at the Institute for the History of Science in Johann‐Wolfgang‐Goethe University (now the University of Frankfurt am Main). She played an integral part in running the university when Willy Hartner, the founder of the Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, on leave at Harvard. Von Dechend was instrumental in building the university's famous library. She became a professor in 1960 and joined the faculty of the History of Natural Sciences in 1966.

An association with Giorgio de Santillana at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) resulted in von Deschend's co-authorship of Hamlet's Mill. After its publication, she often visited MIT and taught seminars. She retired from the University of Frankfurt am Main, becoming a professor emeritus in 1980.

Von Deschend was a good friend of German internist Franz Volhard and his extended family. She continued to work until shortly before her death at the age of eighty-six on April 23, 2001. As testament to her close relationship with the Volhard family, von Dechend was buried in the Volhard family tomb. =Scholarship= Von Dechend is best known for her collaborative work on Hamlet's Mill; an Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time, co-authored with Giorgio de Santillana, an Italian-American philosopher and historian of science on the faculty at MIT. Hamlet's Mill is a study of history, mythology, and specifically archaeoastronomy. Von Dechend's contribution was to connect astronomical phenomena to the myths that they represented and to clear up historical misinterpretations of those myths. In the preface to the book, de Santillana claims he is barely deserving of senior authorship of the book.

Von Dechend published two papers on archaic cosmology: "Il concetto Tues simmetria arcaiche tional culture" (1973) and "Comments on the Thunderbolt" (1977) Von Dechend also undertook research on the work of Justus von Liebig, a well-known organic chemist, publishing a review of letters between Liebig and chemist Friedrich Wöhler of Göttingen. Unpublished works included her doctoral dissertation and her Habilitationsschrift (a postdoctoral thesis required for qualification as a professor), but the resources that she used to complete them still exist.

=Published Work= =Reference List=
 * Hamlet's Mill; an Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend (1969).
 * Il concetto Tues simmetria arcaiche tional culture, in: La simmetria, a cura di Evandro Agazzi (1973).
 * Comments on the Thunderbolt, in: Festschrift Willy Hartner (1977).
 * Justus von Liebig in eigenen Zeugnissen und solchen seiner Zeitgenossen (1953/1963) by Hertha von Dechend.

=Bibliography= Lindgren, Uta. "Eloge: Hertha Von Dechend, 1915–2001." Isis. 1st ed. Vol. 94. N.p.: University of Chicago on Behalf of The History of Science Society, n.d. 112-13. Print.

Linhard, Frank. "Prof. Dr. Hertha Von Dechend." Prof. Dr. Hertha Von Dechend. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. .

Giorgio de Santillana, and Hertha Von Dechend. Hamlet's Mill; an Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time. Boston: Gambit, 1969. Print.

Ihde, Aaron J. Isis. 4th ed. Vol. 45. N.p.: History of Science Society, 1954. 406-07. JSTOR. University of Chicago on Behalf of The History of Science Society. Web. .