Mary Hegeler Carus facts for kids

Mary Hegeler Carus (born January 10, 1861 – died June 27, 1936) was an amazing American engineer, editor, and business leader. She made history in 1882 by becoming the very first woman to earn an engineering degree from the University of Michigan.

Hegeler-Carus Mansion, the family home and headquarters of the publishing house The Open Court

Early Life

Marie Hermine Henriette Hegeler was born on January 10, 1861. Her hometown was La Salle, Illinois. She was the first of ten children born to German immigrant parents. Her father was Edward Carl Hegeler and her mother was Camilla Weisbach Hegeler.

Mary's father, Edward, started the Matthiessen and Hegeler Zinc Company in La Salle. He worked with his college friend, Frederick William Matthiessen. At one point, this company was the biggest producer of zinc in the United States!

A Young Engineer's Interest

Even as a child, Mary was very interested in her father's zinc factory. She loved learning how the smelting furnaces worked. She often went with her father to the factory. She became very good at understanding how the furnaces operated. When she was just 16, she started working for the company. She worked in the assay office, where they tested how pure the zinc was.

Education and Learning

Mary Hegeler attended the University of Michigan. In 1882, she became the first woman ever to graduate from that university with an engineering degree. This was a huge achievement for women in science and engineering!

Studying in Germany

In 1885, Mary decided to study even more. She applied to the Bergakademie Freiberg in Germany. Her cousin, Clemens Winkler, wrote a letter to help her get in. Because of this, she became the first woman to be officially allowed to study there.

Mary studied in Freiberg from April 1885 to Easter 1886. Even though she was allowed to study, she had to use a private laboratory because she was a woman. Her schoolwork was excellent, but she wasn't allowed to officially graduate because of her gender. While she was studying in his lab, her cousin Winkler discovered a new element called Germanium (Ge).

Career and Business

In the summer of 1886, Mary Hegeler returned to La Salle. She was 25 years old. She joined the management team of her father's company. At this time, the company had between 700 and 800 employees!

A New Path in Publishing

Mary's father, Edward Carl Hegeler, became more interested in religion and philosophy. He started a publishing company called Open Court Publishing Company. This company focused on books about these subjects. He also started two magazines: The Open Court in 1887 and The Monist in 1890.

The main editor for these magazines was a philosopher named Paul Carus. Mary Hegeler married Paul Carus on March 29, 1888.

Leading the Zinc Company

In 1903, Mary became the chairman of the board for the Matthiessen-Hegeler Zinc Company. Her father was spending more time on his publishing work. Mary was a strong leader. She even stopped her brothers, Julius and Herman, from selling the company while their father was on vacation!

By 1903, she was the Chief Executive and President of the company. After her father died in 1910, she temporarily lost this role due to family disagreements. But she didn't give up! From 1917 to 1933, she worked as the company secretary. Then, from 1933 until her death in 1936, she became president again. In 1924, she helped buy out the Matthiessen family's share of the company. She also guided the business through the very difficult time of the Great Depression in the 1930s.

Continuing the Publishing Work

After her husband, Paul Carus, died in 1919, Mary took over editing The Open Court and The Monist magazines. She also published the Carus Lectures series. She worked with the Mathematical Association of America to publish the Carus mathematical monographs series.

Personal Life

Mary Hegeler married Paul Carus in 1888. Between 1889 and 1901, they had seven children together. Their first child, Robert, sadly died at birth. However, their other children — Edward (born 1890), Gustave (born 1892), Paula (born 1894), Elisabeth (born 1896), Herman (born 1899), and Alwin (born 1901) — all lived long lives.

Mary Hegeler Carus passed away after a short illness on June 27, 1936. She was buried in a special casket. It was made from the best zinc her family's company could produce.

Commemoration

In 2012, the TU Bergakademie Freiberg university in Germany started a special scholarship. It's called the Mary Hegeler Scholarship. It is given every year to support young women scientists. It helps them with their advanced research and studies.