Sonja Hammerschmid
Austrian molecular biologist and politician

Sonja Hammerschmid (born Sonja Maria Theresia Mörwald on June 24, 1968 in Steyr) is an Austrian molecular biologist and politician.
She was Rector of the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna from 2010 to 2016 and minister of education in the Kern government from 2016 to 2017.
Since 2017, Hammerschmid has been a member of the Austrian National Council.
Hammerschmid is a member of the Social Democratic Party.
Early life
Sonja Hammerschmid was born as Sonja Maria Theresia Mörwald on June 24, 1968 in Steyr.
Hammerschmid grew up in Baumgartenberg, a rural town of about 1200 people. She attended primary school from 1974 to 1978 and hauptschule from 1978 to 1982.
She completed her secondary education at the gymnasium in Perg, graduating in 1986.
Hammerschmid's parents were working class.
The region, bordering the Iron Curtain, was economically underprivileged; a large agricultural sector was trying to eke a living out of some of the poorest soils in the country.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 31, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2301630. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1968, 2010, 2016 and 2017.
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This entry incorporates text from “Sonja Hammerschmid” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.