Asta Hampe

Early life and education Asta Hampe was born on 24 May 1907 in Helmstedt, one of four children of Hans Hampe and Emmy Busch

After preliminary exams and company internships, she transferred to Technische Hochschule in Berlin to study telecommunications engineering. The 200-300 male students were more welcoming to the three female students than in Munich. While still a student there, Hampe founded the Gemeinschaft Deutscher Ingenieurinnen (Association of German Women Engineers). She took her Diplom-Hauptprüfung in the field of telecommunications engineering from the mechanical engineering department in 1931. During the Second World War, Hampe was recruited to work as a physicist for the Kriegsmarine at the Nachrichtenmittel-Versuchskommando in Kiel. She undertook the laboratory work, and a man would field test it for her which always annoyed her.

Membership of the Women's Engineering Society Hampe became a member of the Women's Engineering Society (WES) in 1929, becoming the society's first German member. Hampe was an active WES member, She provided a listing for herself in the 1935 Register of Women Engineers In The Woman Engineer in 1986, there is a listing for Professor Dr. Asta Hampe as a full member.