Margaret Mahler was born on May 10, 1897, in Sopron, Austria-Hungary (now Sopron, Hungary).¹⁾

She was the only child of Imre Mahler, a lawyer, and Lea Benedek, a housewife.²⁾

Mahler's family was of Jewish descent, and she faced discrimination and persecution during her lifetime due to her heritage.³⁾

Margaret Mahler's early education took place in Budapest, Hungary.⁴⁾

She studied medicine at the University of Budapest and later specialized in pediatrics.⁵⁾

Mahler became one of the first female pediatricians in Hungary.⁶⁾

In 1926, Margaret Mahler moved to Vienna to further her studies in psychoanalysis under luminaries like Anna Freud and Melanie Klein.⁷⁾

She trained as a psychoanalyst and became a member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society.⁸⁾

Mahler immigrated to the United States in 1938 due to the rising Nazi threat in Europe, and she settled in New York City.⁹⁾

She continued her psychoanalytic work and began to explore child development in the United States.¹⁰⁾

Margaret Mahler gained American citizenship in 1945.¹¹⁾

She worked with children and their parents, which greatly influenced her research and theories on child development.¹²⁾

Mahler's best-known work, “The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant,” was published in 1975 and outlined her groundbreaking theories on child development.¹³⁾

Her work emphasized the significance of separation and individuation in the development of an individual's sense of self.¹⁴⁾

Margaret Mahler introduced the concept of the “separation-individuation process,” which explained how children gradually develop their own identity separate from their primary caregivers.¹⁵⁾