Margarethe Lenore Selenka - Early Life

Early Life

Selenka was born as Lenore Margarethe Heinemann, a merchants daughter. In 1886 she married the writer Ferdinand Neubürger, but the marriage ended in a divorce a few of years later. In 1893 she married again with Emil Selenka, a professor in zoology at the University of Erlangen, who was the widower of her sister. Under Selenka's influence she began to study palaeontology, anthropology and zoology and became his assistant. In 1892 she participated in a scientific expedition to Ceylon, Japan, China and the Dutch East Indies led by her husband. When Emil Selenka became severely ill during their stay in the Dutch East Indies and had to return to Germany, she continued the work, spending some months exploring the jungles of Borneo to study apes. Back in Germany the couple wrote a report on their journeys titled Sonnige Welten - Ostasiatische Reiseskizzen.