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In the guest blog, geologist and librarian Thomas Hofmann shows how "researcher women" observed and described the scientific world and its contexts from their own perspective.
"Prof. Virchow welcomes the meeting in a long but meaningless speech. [...]. Dr. Schliemann gives a lecture about Troy and the heroes' graves. He reads it and speaks exactly like a Catholic priest who is in ecstasy over sin and vice." These lines from August 5, 1880, written by Georgiana von Hochstetter, the wife of the geologist and mineralogist Ferdinand von Hochstetter, show the all too human facets of two renowned research personalities.
The occasion for this was the conference of the German Society for Anthropology in Berlin. A banquet table with more than 400 people was a must. "Unfortunately I can't hear the toasts well, Schliemann speaks for a long time and calls Virchow a colossus of science." Nevertheless, for the Hochstetters who came from Vienna, it wasn't always all vain and bliss. "Never slept so little, these miserable beds, neither of us can find rest."
Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy, needs no introduction. The physician Rudolf Virchov is considered the founder of modern pathology. Georgiana von Hochstetter's observations on the character traits of these two men can be found in the book "Travel diaries of a Viennese scholar's wife" (Königshausen & Neumann, 2021): "Both men, who are now friends, are similar from the outside due to their origins in Pomerania and their small height, but fundamentally different in character." Schliemann is obsessed with "proving the truth of ancient texts through archaeological findings", while Virchow is "a meticulous empirical and deductive researcher, spiritually withdrawn and soberly distant," according to the two editors Sascha Nolden and Christoph Schindler.
As disparaging as Ms. Hochstetter was about Schliemann, she described his wife with great appreciation. "Ms. Schliemann is an extraordinarily interesting woman, very sweet and simple and has something captivating for me, he has no charm at all, on the contrary I think that his interesting works lose out through his narrative, she is far superior to him and towers over him in so many ways."
A few quick words about Ferdinand v. Hochstetter. Born in Germany, he became professor of geology and mineralogy at what is now the Technical University of Vienna in 1860 and was also rector there from 1874 to 1875. From 1876 Hochstetter was director of the k.k. Natural History Court Museum and thus designer of the house, whose new building was opened in August 1889. The Hochstetter family lived at Döblinger Hauptstrasse 60 in Vienna Döbling. The official apartment in the museum he had planned was never occupied because he died in 1884.
Unlike Georgiana von Hochstetter, the notes of Mietze Diener, who was in Mexico in the late summer of 1907 accompanied by her husband Carl, professor of paleontology at the University of Vienna, were primarily intended for publication. Her little book, "Journey to Modern Mexico: Memories of the Xth International Geological Congress in Mexico", is full of personal impressions that she collected on excursions across the country. Even though she initially raves about the friendly welcome and hospitality, it was significantly less luxurious here than in Europe. But the Dieners weren't expecting any luxury anyway.
Not only Carl, but also Mietze was a member of scientific societies. The k. k. The Geographical Society has listed her as a "university professor's wife in Vienna" since 1903, then living behind the Vienna City Hall, later in Vienna Alsergrund. First in Liechtensteinstrasse and from 1911 in Berggasse 21. The Dieners lived in Sigmund Freud's neighboring house. Carl Diener, who was also dean and rector, had an increasingly German-national, anti-Semitic attitude. He was a member of the infamous "Bear's Cave" clique, as Klaus Taschwer was able to show in 2012.
But back to Mexico. How did Mietze, her actual name was Maria, see and experience her time in Latin America when she was accompanied by her husband? As arduous as some of the day trips were, it was just as important to appear at dinner in the evening dressed up - as much as possible: "As small as my luggage was, I still managed to give myself the opportunity to completely change my clothes, and in patent leather shoes and a scarf dress I appeared for supper fresh and strengthened. However, this supper was a catastrophe."
Of course, the excursions had geological objectives, but there was still time to take a look at the country and its people. The sombreros seemed strange, but also fascinating to her, which "even a lady who is very devoted to fashion would describe as grotesque." She describes the sombreros worn on Sundays and festivals as "magnificent towers of gray, white or brown felt" with a diameter of up to one meter, whose "appropriately wide brim is richly decorated with silver or gold embroidery."
The journey by train through the country, in which they were "just seeing the economic and political upswing", certainly left room for improvement in terms of amenities. The unusual design, "The sleepers are hardly attached to the ground, but are held by the rails, the opposite of ours," meant that the train constantly swayed and lurched like a ship on the high seas. "And apart from the general discomfort and the risk of falling out of bed at night, this also had the particular disadvantage that I could hardly keep my diary during the journey, whereas here there was actually the time to do so." But the couple was tough. As much as some of the excursion participants from all over the world suffered, the Dieners were lucky: "My husband and I were among the few who were never unwell during the entire trip."
Impressions and observations with the directness that Ms. Hochstetter records in her private diary cannot be found in Mietze Diener's book. It is not known whether she talked about anything during her lecture "My Journey in Mexico" on May 11, 1909 in the Urania Theater at Wollzeile 34 at 7:30 p.m. However, one can assume that "Mrs. Prof. Mietze Diener", as she was announced, knew very well what a "university professor's wife" who also took photographs for her book was appropriate to say.
While the Hochstetters and Dieners were abroad for conferences, the geologist Gejza Bukowski von Stolzenburg from the k.k. Geological Reichsanstalt with his wife Katharina doing field work in Dalmatia. In 1887 and 1888 Bukowski geologically mapped the island of Rhodes before he was sent to the southern reaches of the monarchy. His wife kept diaries between 1904 and 1907, without intending to go public with them, as Mietze Diener did.
Journaling was an important part of her monotonous days while her husband explored the mountains. Even though she was suffering herself, she supported and cared for him as best she could. "Then my poor, tormented Gejza went away and I packed up his bag with the food. Previously, however, I pulled a long, dark woman's hair out of the piece of cow's cheese. So now our stay here has become even more embittered. Disgust after disgust grips everyone who is used to everything, could never get used to this economy here. Horrible conditions."
Ms. Bukowski recorded in numerous entries that stays in the southern reaches of the monarchy lacked many comforts and, above all, the culinary delights of the imperial capital and residential city, where they lived at Hansalgasse 3 in Vienna Landstrasse. "This requires a lot of strength and endurance; a healthy stomach is the main thing in this country, as the diet is very different from ours." The poor diet and the associated frustration had consequences. "My appearance was the worst possible for all these many weeks, there was no possibility of rest in this place. My poor, very patient husband had no idea how much I suffered under these conditions."
And so her conclusion is understandable: "With this diet, my husband is supposed to gain strength in order to be able to carry out his job precisely and punctually? A truly, sad existence for a cultured person. For this time I have lost all the magic of the natural beauty, and I hereby swear that southern Dalmatia will never see me again." (Thomas Hofmann, 14.7.2022)