Talk:Grete Hermann/GA1

Initial checks

• Images: Infobox image has an appropriate NFUR and is compliant with the NFCC
• Copyright: No issues apparent on Earwig. Will do further checks for close paraphrasing as part of my source spotchecks
• Stability: No issues

Prose and general comments

This is very well-written overall — just a few suggestions on the article prose from my read through. Feel free to disregard or push back on any of these changes if you don't think they would be an improvement, most are not essential to meeting the GA criteria on their own. MCE89 (talk) 05:53, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• ...her foundational work in quantum mechanics and political philosophy with the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK) in opposition to Nazism — I think this sentence could be tweaked slightly to make the syntax clearer (i.e. to avoid it reading as "her foundational work in quantum mechanics...in opposition to Nazism"). Perhaps something like She is known for her foundational work in quantum mechanics, her writings on political philosophy, and her work with the Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund (ISK) in opposition to Nazism.?

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 12:57, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• a long-ignored critique of the no hidden variables proof by John von Neumann — The grammar here makes it slightly ambiguous whether it's the critique or the proof that belongs to von Neumann. You could consider changing this to a long-ignored critique of John von Neumann's no hidden variables proof

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 13:02, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• and she posthumously published the works of others — I got a bit lost here on my first reading on how she was managing to publish others' works after her own death. I think something like she published the works of deceased mathematicians or she published the posthumous works of others might be clearer

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:03, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• which was unusual for girls at the time — Does this mean that it was unusual for girls to attend that particular school, or that it was unusual for girls to attend high school in general?

 Done – clarified she was one of few admitted by exception and note of when the school became officially co-educational Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:03, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• I assume that The Question of Finitely Many Steps in Polynomial Ideal Theory is the title of her published thesis, but I think this could be made more explicit in the text

 Done — explicitly said it is her PhD thesis. Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:07, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• You can remove — Grete Hermann, The foundations of quantum mechanics in the philosophy of nature from the bottom of the blockquote and move the citation to just before the quote (see MOS:BLOCKQUOTE). I think the source of the quote is made clear within the body

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:07, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• Her first position upon her return — This comes a bit out of nowhere, because you haven't yet told the reader that she left Germany during the war. I think it could be helpful to reorganise this section slightly to separate out the chronological description of her career from the detailed description of her mathematical contributions

 Done – fair point, I moved this without properly introducing a segway. It is difficult to make this strictly chronological, in my opinion, since her career in academia was essentially interrupted by the war. Feel free to offer comments on the update. Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:25, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• You could consider mentioning that Pädagogische Hochschule Bremen was a teachers' training college, or just provide an English translation of its name

 Done — did both. Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:25, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• due to rules and demands that she perceived as threatening to her intellectual independence, including vegetarianism and leaving the church — I don't think I follow the meaning here. Were these "rules and demands" imposed by Nelson or the ISK? And does this mean that she was a vegetarian and non-religious, or that others demanded this?

 Done — reworded: She waited to join ISK until after Nelson's death in 1927 due to rules and demands he imposed on members that she perceived as threatening to her intellectual independence, including enforced vegetarianism and leaving the church. Feel free to share your thoughts. Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:46, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Yep, that's much better

• After Nelson's death, Willi Eichler took up its leadership — I think you can make it clearer that Nelson was the leader of the ISK, I didn't gather that from the previous paragraph

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:46, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• a Quaker who founded the Brynmawr Experiment and connected to ISK — Should this be "...and was connected with the ISK"?

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:48, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• which was classified as a marriage of convenience, due to Nazi persecution — I found this a bit confusing until you explained the reasons later in the paragraph. I think it might be clearer to the reader if you moved that explanation to a little earlier and changed this to something like: ...in a marriage of convenience that allowed her to obtain citizenship and protected her from internment

 Done Revolving Doormat (talk) 14:52, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

Source review

• Reference formatting and layout meets GA criteria
• Per WP:THESIS, masters' theses are generally not reliable sources unless they can be shown to have significant scholarly influence. Unless that is the case for reference 5, I'd suggest that it should unfortunately probably be removed

 Done — was able to replace all the information with other sources. Revolving Doormat (talk) 13:50, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

• Otherwise no concerns regarding source reliability

Spot checks

This table checks 8 passages from throughout the article (10.0% of 80 total passages). These passages contain 8 inline citations (9.3% of 86 in the article). Generated with the Veracity user script. MCE89 (talk) 23:42, 3 January 2026 (UTC)

More information Reference #, Letter ...

Reference #	Letter	Source	Archive	Status	Notes
Both of her grandfathers were pastors.
6	a	Venz, Vera (2009). Zur Biographie von Grete Hermann (in German). Germany: Grin Verlag. ISBN 978-364…
However, she instead enrolled at the University of Göttingen in 1921 with her two older brothers,
4	c	link.springer.com
She defended her thesis in 1925, which included her majors of study.
5	e	physicsworld.com
Heisenberg describes her as dissatisfied with intermediate positions, but as partly reassured by replies influenced by Niels Bohr, and presents the exchange as clarifying the relation between Kantian concepts and modern physics.
20	b	Heisenberg, Werner (1972). Physics and beyond: encounters and conversations. Harper torchbooks. New…
The ISK was vehemently opposed to the Nazi Party
12	e	physicstoday.aip.org
Carl and Eva were both arrested and jailed by the Nazi police for harboring a Jewish family in 1943.
32	b	Mordecai Paldiel (1993). The path of the righteous. Internet Archive. Ktav. pp. 154–155. ISBN 978-0…	archive.org
At the time, it was nearly impossible for German exiles to obtain work permits, so many refugee women married to be automatically granted British citizenship.
29	d	brill.com
While in London, Hermann and Specht were leaders of the Union of German Socialist Organisations in Great Britain.
12	h	physicstoday.aip.org

Close

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.