Dr. Clara von Simson

Title: Dr.
Prename: Clara von
Surname: Simson
Profession: Physicist
Birthday: 10/04/1897
Place of birth: Rome
Date of death: 01/26/1983
Place of death: Berlin
Education: 1918–23 university studies (physics, chemistry) in Berlin; 1923 doctorate
Career: 1923–27 scientific and journalistic publications; 1927–33 assistant in the department of physics and chemistry, University of Berlin; 1933–39 scientific translations; 1939–45 works in Freda Wüsthoff’s patent-law firm in Berlin; May 1945 commission on the democratic reform of physics teaching for the city of Berlin; 1947–52 senior position (“Oberingenieurin”) at the Technical University Berlin; 1948–50 study visits to Oxford; 1951 university lecturer qualification (*Habilitation*), Technical University Berlin; 1952–63 director of the Lette Association’s college in Berlin
Memberships: 1933–45 group around Max von Laue; 1947 deputy chair of the academic commission, Wilmersdorf Women’s Union (Wilmersdorfer Frauenbund); from 1949 German Federation of University Women (DAB); 1963–71 Free Democratic Party (FDP) deputy in the Berlin city parliament; 1966 honorary senator, Technical University Berlin; 1969 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany; 1969–77 chair of the board of trustees, Friedrich Naumann Foundation
Biographical literature: Paul Günther, “Clara von Simson zum 65. Geburtstag,” *Zeitschrift für Elektrochemie* 66 (1962), no. 7: 527–8; Ulla Galm, *Clara von Simson* (Berlin: Stapp, 1984); Brita Engel, “Clara von Simson,” in *Zwischen Rebellion und Reform. Frauen im Berliner Westen*, ed. Birgit Jochens and Sonja Miltenberger (Berlin: Jaron, 1999), 185–6; Annette Vogt, “Clara von Simson – Assistentin und Kollegin,” in *Einsteins Kolleginnen – Physikerinnen gestern und heute*, ed. Annette Vogt and Cornelia Denz (Bielefeld: TeDiC, 2005, 18–20, [*Neue Deutsche Biographie*, "Clara von Simson"](http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz122238.html)
Major works: *Roentgen-Untersuchungen an Amalgamen* (diss.; Berlin, 1923); *Lehrbuch der Physik für die Oberschule* (with Paul Schauff; Berlin: Volk u. Wissen, 1949); “Über die Wärmeleitfähigkeit des Ammoniumchlorids im Bereiche seiner II-III-Umwandlung,” *Naturwissenschaften* 38 (1951), no. 24: 559