Maria Dahl

Maria Johanna Grosset was born on 26 July 1872 in Boromlya, Russian Empire (currently in Poltava Region, Ukraine).^[1] She was an honor graduate from the Girls Gymnasium in Kharkiv.^[2] In 1889, Grosset became a teacher of culture.^[3]

In 1890, Grosset immigrated with her family to Kiel, Germany, where she attended a vocational school.^[3] She planned to study medicine, however, at that time only men could attend medical schools in Germany.^[1] In 1891, Groset had to retake the exams, as her Russian diploma was not recognized in Germany.^[3]

On 19 June 1899 Grosset married Friedrich Dahl.^[3] The couple had four children.^[4]

Due to Friedrich Dahl's health problems, the Dahl family moved to Greifswald where Dahl continued to live after her husband's death in 1929.^[3]

Maria Dahl died on 6 January 1972 at the age of 99.^[5]

From 1892 to 1899 Dahl was employed as an assistant to Karl Brandt at Zoological institute in Kiel where she was working with the collections from the 1889-90 Plankton-Expedition.^[2]

In the two decades after getting married in 1899, Dahl was mainly occupied by the birth and education of her four children.^[3] However, around 1907 her husband, Friedrich Dahl, encouraged her to pursue the work he had started on the corycacid copepods of the Plankton-Expedition.^[2] Working at home, by 1912 Dahl had completed a monograph of excellence, planned as one part of the series.^[5] In the foreword to her analysis of the copepod genus Corycacinen, Dahl apologized for not having a PhD in zoology and for taking too long to complete the task.^[4]

After World War I Dahl was engaged in arachnid research along with her husband.^[1] In 1920, Dahl began her research at the University of Berlin and was occupied with it until 1925.^[3]

Dahl's and her husband's joint research culminated in publishing Die Tierwelt Deutschlands in 1925.^[2] Friedrich Dahl was its founder and author of the first three volumes, while Maria co-authored the fifth volume and edited 15 volumes.^[2] A review in Nature called Die Tierwelt Deutschlands "a reference book necessary to every library of zoology", noting that "each species is given an excellent and well-illustrated systematic description".^[6] After Friedrich Dahl’s death in 1929, Dahl continued editing Die Tierwelt Deutschlands until 1968.^[5]

Dahl also published several works on spiders and finished editing her husband’s book on Melanesia.^[7]

Selected works:^[3]

• 1926 – Dahl (M.) (Maria), Spinentiere  oder Arachnoidea. I.Spring-spinnen (Salticidae). Tierw. Deuts., 1926, pp. 1–55, 159 fig.
• 1927 – Dahl (M.), vide DAHL (F.) & Maria DAHL, 1927.
• 1928 – Dahl (M.), Einige Lebendbeobachtungen an Argiope lobata (Arachneae, Argiopidae). Zool. Anz., 75 (3–4), pp. 79–85
• 1928 – Dahl (M.), Spinnen (Araneae) von Nowaja-Semlja. Norsk. Vid. Akard. Oslo, 1928, pp. 1–37.^[8]
• 1931 – Dahl (M.), Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea. VI. 24 Familie: Agelenidae. Tierw. Deuts., 1931, pp. 1–46, 76 fig.
• 1933 – Dahl (M.), Spinnen (Araneae). in The Norwegian North Polar Expedition with the Maud 1918–1925, Scientific Results, 5 (16), pp. 3–4.^[8]
• 1935 – Dahl (M.), Zur Kenntnis der Spinnentiere Schlesiens. A. Araneae und Opiliones. Sitz-ber. Ges naturf. Freu. Berlin, 1935, pp. 337–353.
• 1937 – Dahl (M.), Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea. VIII. 19 Familie: Hahniidae. Tierw. Deuts., 1937, pp. 100–114, 33 fig.
• 1937 – Dahl (M.), Spinnentiere oder Arachnoidea. VIII. 20 Familie: Argyronetidae. Tierw. Deuts., 1937, pp. 115–118, fig.34–38.
• 1938 – Dahl (M.), Zur Verbreitung der Gattung Porrhomma in deutschen Höhlen, Stollen, Bergwerten und Kellern und deren freilebenden Arten. Mitt. Höhl. u. Karstjorsch., 1938, pp. 122 132, 9 fig.