{{Short description|German exhibition parachutist (1868–1935)}} {{use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Käthe Paulus | image = File:Käthe Paulus ca. 1890 Fotomontage 3256644 1450825047-e1450825180454.jpg | birth_date = {{birth date|1868|12|22|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Mainhausen|Zellhausen]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1935|7|26|1868|12|22|df=y}} | known_for = Inventor of collapsable parachute, aerial acrobatics performer }} '''Katharina "Käthe" Paulus''' (22 December 1868 – 26 July 1935)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.footnotinghistory.com/home/love-parachutes-and-kathchen-paulus|title=Love, Parachutes, and Käthchen Paulus|website=Footnoting History|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref> was a German exhibition [[parachute]] jumper and the inventor of the first collapsible parachute.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-female-inventors/a-1927852|title=Germany's Female Inventors|date=8 March 2006|website=Deutsche Welle|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{Cite web|url=https://www.bpa.org.uk/about-us/history-of-the-sport/|title=History of the sport|publisher=British Parachute Association|access-date=27 July 2018|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727085111/https://www.bpa.org.uk/about-us/history-of-the-sport/|url-status=dead}}</ref> At the time, 1910, the parachute was named "rescue apparatus for aeronauts".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-parachute|title=The Parachute timeline.|website=Timetoast|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/airshipspastpres00hild|title=Airships Past and Present|last=Hildebrandt|first=Alfred|translator=Story, W H|date=1908|publisher=D. Van Nostrand Company|location=New York|pages=17, 148–9}}</ref> The previous parachutes were not able to fit in a case like apparatus worn on the back,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.scmp.com/article/533833/fyi-who-invented-parachute-and-who-did-first-test|title=FYI: Who invented the parachute and who did the first test?|work=South China Morning Post|first=Mark|last=Footer|date=22 January 2006|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref> thus Paulus' invention became of paramount importance for the Germans in the [[First World War]] and she produced about 7,000 parachutes for the German forces.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol116jm.html|title=EARLY PARACHUTES|publisher=South African Military History Society|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oi-vBwAAQBAJ&q=paulus&pg=PA114|title=United States Army Aviators' Equipment, 1917-1945|last=Sweeting|first=C. G.|date=3 April 2015|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786497379}}</ref> During the First World War, Paulus created approximately 125 parachutes a week. She was also credited with inventing the "[[Drogue parachute|drag 'chute]]", an intentional breakaway system where one small parachute opens to pull out the main parachute.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parachutehistory.com/eng/drs.html|title=Historical Review|last=Meyer|first=Jan|website=Parachute History|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{Cite web|url=http://www.parachutehistory.com/women/paulusk.html|title=Katchen Paulus|last=Meyer|first=Jan|website=Parachute History|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{Cite web|url=http://www.megax.com/famous_inventions_by_women_inventors_t601760.html|title=Lady|website=Megax|access-date=27 July 2018|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727181046/http://www.megax.com/famous_inventions_by_women_inventors_t601760.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Paulus was an [[Balloon (aeronautics)|avid aeronaut]] herself and logged over 510 balloon flights and over 165 parachute jumps in her lifetime. She was the first German to be a professional air pilot<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.omegawatches.com/hertime/article/5-noteworthy-inventions-created-by-women|title=Five noteworthy inventions created by women|publisher=Omega Watches|access-date=27 July 2018|archive-date=27 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727084756/https://www.omegawatches.com/hertime/article/5-noteworthy-inventions-created-by-women|url-status=dead}}</ref> and the first German woman [[Aerobatics|aerial acrobat]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.berlin-airport.de/en/ber/the-excitement-of-airports/walk/kaethe-paulus/index.php|title=Käthe Paulus|publisher=Berlin Brandenburg Airport|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{cite web|url=http://www.ballooninghistory.com/whoswho/who'swho-p.html|title=P - Who's Who of Ballooning|website=Ballooning History|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref>
Despite the fact that hot air balloons are currently known as a sort of tourist attraction, during the final decades of the 19th century these hot air balloons were on the cutting edge of technology, and were popular before the invention of the airplane.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/systems/parachute-history.htm|title=Parachute - History|last=Pike|first=John|website=Global Security|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref>
== Life == Paulus was born in Zellhausen, today part of [[Mainhausen]], near [[Frankfurt]], Germany, into a working-class family. Her father worked as a day laborer and died when she was nineteen years old.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kulturring.org/konkret/frauen-persoenlichkeiten/index.php?frauen-persoenlichkeiten=strassennamen&id=142|title=Straßennamen Katharina Paulus |website=Frauenpersönlichkeiten in Berlin Mitte|language=de|access-date=27 July 2018}}<br>- {{Cite web|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/weltspiegel/sonntag/deutschlands-erste-fallschirmspringerin-wie-kaethe-paulus-zur-internationalen-sensation-wurde/23758788.html|title=Deutschlands erste Fallschirmspringerin - Wie Käthe Paulus zur internationalen Sensation wurde|first=Marius|last=Buhl|date=19 December 2018|website=[[Tagesspiegel]]|language=de|access-date=4 July 2021}}</ref> After his death, Paulus picked up her mother's trade of seamstressing to help support the family.
At 21, she met [[Hermann Lattemann]], a well-known balloonist, and began working as his assistant to repair the balloons with her skills as a seamstress. Paulus and Lattemann begun to develop their professional and personal relationship, until Paulus began to parachute herself, and the two eventually were married. They had a son, Willy Hermann Paulus, who later died of diphtheria. In 1895, the couple were on a joint jump when Lattlemann's parachute failed to deploy. Paulus watched him fall to his death.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://samilitaryhistory.org/vol116jm.html|title=EARLY PARACHUTES|publisher=South African Military History Society|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref>
While grieving the death of her husband, Paulus stayed in bed for months. During this time, thousands of admirers mailed letters of support to her to request she continue her career of being a ballooner. She then bought four new parachutes and set off on a tour of Europe using the stage name ''Miss Polly''. She performed theatrically, using acrobatic feats and even riding a bicycle suspending from a hot air balloon's basket. Paulus became an international success.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/hi/wgt/WW_ONE/Start/Bleed_White/Military_Pilots/term_17531.html|title=Käthe Paulus – acrobat of the air in the service of the armament industries|publisher=University of Stuttgart|access-date=27 July 2018|archive-date=28 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728222416/http://www.uni-stuttgart.de/hi/wgt/WW_ONE/Start/Bleed_White/Military_Pilots/term_17531.html|url-status=dead}}<br>- {{Cite web|url=https://www.longislandskydiving.com/about-skydiving-long-island/articles/tiny-broadwick-famous-female-skydivers/|title=Famous Female Skydiver Tiny Broadwick|date=20 March 2018 |publisher=Long Island Skydiving Center|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref>
Paulus completed her last balloon jump at age 63 on August 5, 1931.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pKENlNUWPEwC&dq=paulus+balloonist&pg=PA12|title=Women in Space - Following Valentina|last1=David|first1=Shayler|last2=Moule|first2=Ian A.|year=2006|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9781846280788}}</ref>
== Death == Paulus died at the age of 66 and is buried in a cemetery in [[Reinickendorf]].
== Honors == * In 2006, a street in [[Berlin]] was named after Paulus titled "Katharina-Paulus-Straße". It was formerly titled Lehrter station. It is located between Europaplatz in the north and Old Moabit in the south.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kulturring.org/konkret/frauen-persoenlichkeiten/index.php?frauen-persoenlichkeiten=strassennamen&id=142|title=Straßennamen Katharina Paulus |website=Frauenpersönlichkeiten in Berlin Mitte|language=de|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref> * A street is named in her honor in Frankfurt-Bockenheim * Paulus was the first German woman to parachute out of a hot air balloon. * In 1917, Paulus received a Service [[Merit Cross for War Aid|Cross of Merit]] after twenty balloon German troops parachuted to safety.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.justcollecting.com/aviation-memorabilia/1903-early-balloon-postcard-kathe-katchen-paulus|title=1903 Early Balloon Postcard Kathe 'Katchen' Paulus|work=Just Collecting|access-date=27 July 2018}}</ref> * Paulus will be inducted into the International Skydiving Hall of Fame in September 2024<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://skydivingmuseum.org/hall-of-fame/inductees/current|title=Hall of Fame Inductees|date=July 2024}}</ref>
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== References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Käthe_Paulus Katharine Paulus at German Wikipedia] (in German)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulus, Katharina}} [[Category:1868 births]] [[Category:1935 deaths]] [[Category:People from Offenbach (district)]] [[Category:20th-century German inventors]] [[Category:20th-century women inventors]] [[Category:Aviation inventors]] [[Category:History of parachuting]] [[Category:Women aviation pioneers]] [[Category:German aviators]] [[Category:German skydivers]]