Bernd Loetsch

Bernd Loetsch

Bernd Lötsch (born September 13, 1941 in Vienna ) is an Austrian biologist and one of the pioneers of the Austrian ecological movement .

Life

Lötsch is a son of the Styrian documentary film pioneer Bruno Lötsch , who worked from the 1920s.

Bernd Lötsch studied biology and chemistry at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1970 at the Institute of Plant Physiology. At the same time he learned microscopy and scientific cinematography at the university as well as the film trade from his father. From 1966 to 1973 Lötsch was an assistant at the Institute for Plant Physiology, since 1970 he worked with the Institute for Film and Image in Munich and the Institute for Scientific Film in Göttingen and produced several university teaching and research films.

Bernd Lötsch has been married to Elisabeth Lötsch since 1970; the Lötsch couple have two daughters: Birgit (1974) and Verena (1978).

Lötsch has been involved in environmental issues since 1969, including against the planning of a Neusiedler See bridge and the Hainburg hydropower plant . In 1973 Bernd Lötsch began to set up the Institute for Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation (first Ludwig Boltzmann Society, then ÖAW) and worked as a researcher and expert. In addition to many contacts with well-known scientists and artists, he has been involved in the “Ecology Group” (Ingolstadt) since 1974, where he made friends with Hubert Weinzierl .

1973 Lötsch qualified as a professor at the University of Salzburg . In addition to working as a lecturer at the Universities of Vienna and Salzburg, he completed guest lectures at the Academy of Fine Arts , the Medical Faculty and at several universities in the Near and Middle East. In the run-up to the occupation of the Hainburger Au in 1984, Lötsch was one of the participants in the animals' press conference and appeared as a " purple heron ". Since 1986 he has been a university professor in Salzburg and president of the Donau-Auen National Park Institute. In 1988 he was a speaker at the UNESCO seminars “Ecosystems Management”. From 1994 to 2009 he was General Director of the Natural History Museum Vienna .

Bernd Lötsch became known to the public with suggestions for life-appropriate urban design and traffic solutions, through television discussions on Austrian television and through statements on current environmental problems. He wrote the principle manifestos of the Austrian Nature Conservation Union and was a pioneer for organic farming in Austria.

Awards

• 1982 Victor Gruen Foundation Prize
• 1985 Bodo Manstein Medal from the BUND
• 1988 Austrian State Prize for Audiovisual Media in Research and Teaching
• 1994 Konrad-Lorenz-Medal 1994 of the Wiener Volksbildungswerk
• 1994 Award from the Austrian Society for Oncology
• 1995 Bavarian Nature Conservation Medal from the Association of Nature Conservation Bavaria for the preservation of the last Bavarian Danube river section
• 1996 professional title visiting professor at the University of Krems
• 1998 Konrad Lorenz State Prize for nature and environmental protection
• 1999 Prize of the Bruno H. Schubert Foundation , category 1
• 2006 Gold Medal for Services to the State of Vienna

Lötsch is an honorary ambassador for the Jane Goodall Institute Austria .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Honorary Ambassadors of the Jane Goodall Institute-Austria accessed on February 20, 2012

Web links

• Literature by and about Bernd Lötsch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Short biography ( Memento from August 13, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
• Nature Conservation Union Austria
• Recordings by and with Bernd Lötsch in the Austrian media library