![Portr[AI]ts from Bonn](https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/news/167-2025/hjr_4913kl.jpg/@@images/image/leadimagesize "Portr[AI]ts from Bonn")
The several hundred guests attending, including many employees of the ministry, were addressed by Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär and former Chancellor Angela Merkel at the vernissage.
Herself a physicist, Merkel praised the work of science photographer Gesine Born for her innovative AI-supported concept for making female scientists visible to the public. Merkel noted as well that there needs to be much more education regarding the achievements of female researchers in order to encourage more young women to pursue a career in science.
Inspired by the University of Bonn
Rector Professor Michael Hoch and Vice Rector for Equal Opportunity and Diversity Professor Irmgard Förster attended the vernissage, which was watched by numerous guests at the ministry offices in Bonn. These included Professor Klaus Sandmann, Vice Rector for Teaching, Learning and University Development, and Professor Cornelia Richter, chair of the University of Bonn Senate.
Vice Rector Förster underscored the significance of the project: “Equal opportunity is an important issue at our University, and the many steps we have taken are indicative of our high level of commitment. Within the framework of the Excellence Strategy we have made great progress in recruiting women for leadership positions in science and academia. The exhibition helps to make those efforts more visible.”
The exhibition, simultaneously held in Berlin and Bonn, comes as the fruit of a conversation between the ministry’s Gender Equality Officer Dr. Tanja Dörre and University of Bonn Gender Equality Commissioner Gabriele Alonso Rodriguez. Having traveled to Berlin to attend the vernissage, Rodriguez presented Angela Merkel and Minister Bär with the freshly printed calendar for the exhibition part held in Bonn.
In her remarks Rodriguez said: “The women selected for portraits were chosen for having made pioneering achievements at the University of Bonn which went unrecognized, so that they were denied their deserved respect as scientists during their lifetime.” Other universities, she continued, may wish to follow suit and adopt this concept, born at the University of Bonn, for their own female alumni.
Visibility for women in research
One special moment at the opening event was when a portrait of Amalie Kretzer (1873–1948)—the first woman to receive a doctorate in Physics at the University of Bonn—was presented to Angela Merkel. Awarded on October 15, 1909, Kretzer’s doctorate is a symbol representing the achievements of many female scientists whose work has gone unrecognized for decades.
Fourteen AI portraits of female scientists are now on display in the exhibition at the BMFTR: six from Bonn and eight from other cities and countries. Held at the ministry offices in Berlin and Bonn, the exhibition runs until mid-October.
Further information:
BMFTR exhibition: https://www.bmftr.bund.de/SharedDocs/Kurzmeldungen/DE/2025/09/1609-vernissage-versauemte-bilder.html
Exhibition catalogue: https://www.bmftr.bund.de/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/2025/begleitheft-versaeumte-bilder.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=3
Exhibition in Bonn: https://www.uni-bonn.de/en/university/university-life/events/ai-exhebition-bring-on-the-portr-ai-ts/ki-ausstellung-her-mit-den-portr-ai-ts?set_language=en
