Doctoral Certificate of Irene Rosenberg

Irene Rosenberg (1890–1986) was a German chemist. After graduating from Lessingschule in Karlsruhe in 1909, she studied chemistry at Karlsruhe Polytechnic and Breslau University (today in Wrocław, Poland). Following her Diplom examination at Breslau, she returned to Karlsruhe and began to write her thesis in chemistry under Carl Engler. Her dissertation, On Some Components of Sweet Chestnut Leaves, dated November 27, 1915, made Irene Rosenberg the first female student at Karlsruhe Polytechnic to be awarded a doctorate in engineering (Dr.-Ing.). At that time, the female form of this academic title in common use in Germany today, did not yet exist. Before the National Socialist takeover, Irene Rosenberg had been an active member of the German Association of Women Academics. Due to her Jewish background, she was compelled to withdraw. After marrying the medical doctor Eric David Adler, she worked as a technical medical assistant. Dr. Adler mentions her collaboration in one of his essays from 1921. In 1938, Irene Rosenberg fled to the United States with her husband and youngest daughter to escape Nazi persecution, and their two elder children joined them in 1939. Irene Rosenberg, the first female doctoral graduate of Karlsruhe Polytechnic, has been acknowledged otherwise as well. In 1994, a street connecting Engelbert-Arnold-Straße and Engesserstraße on KIT’s South Campus was named in her honor. The Irene Rosenberg Program has been offered since 2002 in Baden-Württemberg for the promotion of doctoral studies by women in the engineering sciences. The prize sponsored by Robert Bosch GmbH for the best master’s thesis by a female graduate in mechanical engineering is also named after her. as