Bernhard Rensch

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Bernhard Carl Emmanuel Rensch (born January 21, 1900 in Thale im Harz ; † April 4, 1990 in Münster ) was an evolutionary biologist, zoologist, behavioral scientist, neurophysiologist and philosopher as well as co-founder of the synthetic theory of evolution . He was full professor of zoology and director of the zoological institute at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster. Together with his wife Ilse Rensch (née Maier) (1902-1992) he also worked in the field of malacology and described several new species and subspecies of land snails .

Life

Bernhard Rensch was born on January 21, 1900 in Thale in the Harz Mountains. In 1925 he became assistant and department manager at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin , where he worked until 1937. Among other things, he carried out a very successful expedition to the Lesser Sunda Islands in 1927 . In 1930 he summarized the scientific results of this trip in a book, which provided important impulses for biogeography in particular . A secondary aspect of this work is his impressions of the then completely unexplored music of Lombok . In 1928 he published an important paper on the question of the origin of species ( The Principle of Geographic Race Circles and the Problem of Species Formation), in which he presented numerous ideas that later found their way into the synthetic theory of evolution, which he co-founded. His philosophical interest was particularly focused on this Mind-body problem. Here he developed his own form of identity (see lit .; identity theory ). z. B. he claims to be able to show inductively (i.e. on a scientific basis) that the eye (and other sense organs) have a direct share in consciousness .

Rensch was a member of various Nazi organizations. From the beginning in the Reichsbund der Deutschen Officials , he joined the NSV (October 1st, 1935), the Reichsluftschutzbund (February 4th, 1936), the NSLB (September 1936), the Reichskolonialbund and the NSDDB .

Due to circumstances that could not be clarified in the end, Rensch left the museum and found a job as director at the State Museum for Natural History of the Province of Westphalia , where he replaced Hermann Reichling, who had been removed from office by the National Socialists . Rensch completed his habilitation in zoology at the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster in 1937 . In 1944 he received a chair for zoology at the German University in Prague . After the end of the war he returned to Münster in 1945 and from 1947 he was a full professor at the university's zoological institute there.

1953/1954 Rensch was President of the German Zoological Society . In 1956 he handed over the management of the Westphalian Museum of Natural History to his student, the former fighter pilot Ludwig Franzisket , in order to devote himself exclusively to his work as a university teacher. In 1968 he retired.

Bernhard Rensch died in 1990 at the age of 90.

Honors

In 1958 Bernhard Rensch was awarded the Darwin Wallace Medal and in 1959 the Darwin Plaque of the Leopoldina as one of 18 scientists “who have made an outstanding contribution to the further development of Darwin's ideas and a little to shed light on the great problems of evolution” . In 1975 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , and in 1977 to the National Academy of Sciences . Since 2004, the Society for Biological Systematics (GfBS) has been awarding the Bernhard Rensch Prize for outstanding achievements by young scientists in the field of systematics and biodiversity research.

Works

General, theoretical, philosophical, ideological work

  • 1947: Recent problems in the theory of descent. The trans-specific evolution, Stuttgart 1947.
  • 1949: Biological structure law, in: Joachim Jungius-Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften eV (Ed.), The problem of legality, Hamburg 1949, pp. 117-137.
  • 1950: Sensory cells as psychophysical substance, in: Philosophia naturalis . Volume 1, 1950, pp. 84-115.
  • 1952: Psychological components of the sensory organs, Stuttgart 1952.
  • 1960: The Laws of Evolution, in: S. Tax (ed.), Evolution after Darwin, Vol. I, Chicago, London, Toronto 1960, pp. 95-116.
  • 1961: The laws of evolution of organisms from a natural philosophical point of view, in: Philosophia naturalis. 6/1961, pp. 288-326.
  • 1962: Problems of free will from a biological and philosophical point of view, in: Hippokrates 33/1962, pp. 1019-1032.
  • 1964: The philosophical meaning of the laws of evolution, in: Helmut Kuhn, Franz Wiedmann (ed.), Philosophy and the question of progress, Munich 1964, pp. 179–206.
  • 1964: Problems of biological philosophy with regard to the philosophy of the Upanishads, in: Journal of the University of Bombay 33/1964, pp. 89-95.
  • 1968: Biophilosophy on an epistemological basis (Panpsychistic Identism), Stuttgart 1968.
  • 1969: The fivefold root of panpsychistic identity, in: Philosophia naturalis. 11/1969, pp. 129-150.
  • 1970: Homo sapiens. From animal to demigod, Göttingen 1970.
  • 1972: More recent problems in the theory of descent. The transspecific evolution, 3rd edition expanded by an appendix, Stuttgart 1972.
  • 1972: Spinoza's identity theory and modern biophilosophy, in: The Philosophical Forum (Boston), pp. 193-207.
  • 1973: Memory, concept formation and planned actions in animals, Berlin and Hamburg 1973.
  • 1974: Theoretical and Philosophical Aspects of the Incarnation, in: JL Franzen, B. Rensch (Ed.), Theoretical Aspects of the Incarnation, Frankfurt a. M. 1974, pp. 23-39.
  • 1974: Polynomistic Determination of Biological Processes, in: FJ Ayala, Th. Dobzhansky (eds.), Studies in the Philosophy of Biology, Berkeley and Los Angeles 1974, pp. 241-255.
  • 1974: Lawfulness, biological, in: Joachim Ritter (Ed.), Historical Dictionary of Philosophy, Vol. 3, Basel 1974, pp. 535–536.
  • 1977: The universal worldview. Evolution and natural philosophy, Frankfurt am Main 1977.
  • 1977: Panpsychistic Identism and its Meaning for a Universal Evolutionary Picture, in: Scientia, Vol. 112, Milan 1977, pp. 337-349.
  • 1978: Perception and thinking from an epistemological point of view, in: Peter M. Hejl, Wolfram K. Köck, Gerhard Roth (eds.), Perception and Communication, Frankfurt am Main, Bern, Las Vegas 1978, pp. 51–64.
  • 1978: Panpsychistic Identism and its Meaning for a Universal Evolutionary Picture, Reply to the Note of the Board, in: Scientia, Vol. 113, Milan 1978, pp. 129-132.
  • 1978: Psychogenesis from Lowest Organisms to Man, in: Marvin D. Lofflin, James Silverberg, Discourse and Inference in Cognitive Anthropology, Paris 1978, pp. 259-279.
  • 1979: The life path of a biologist in a turbulent century, Stuttgart, New York 1979.
  • 1979: Legality, psychophysical context, free will and ethics, Berlin 1979.
  • 1980: Tribal history of the spiritual. In: Wolfgang Böhme (ed.), How does the mind come about ?, Karlsruhe 1980, pp. 41–47.
  • 1980: The problem of the tribal history of the psychic. In: Communications from the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp. 143–159.
  • 1980: Effective factors in works of fine art, in: Manfred Hahn, Martin Schuster (Ed.), Advances in Art Psychology, Frankfurt am Main 1980, pp. 92–110.
  • 1981: Three heterogeneous meanings of the term “chance”, in: Philosophia naturalis. 18/1981, pp. 197-208
  • 1982: Kant's ideas about the human mind, in: Philosophia naturalis. 19/1982, pp. 251-274.
  • 1984: Psychological foundations of the valuation of fine arts, Essen 1984.
  • 1985: Biophilosophical implications of inorganic and organismic evolution, Essen 1985.
  • 1985: Tribal history and natural philosophical conclusions, in: Mainzer Naturwissenschaftliches Archiv, 23/1985, pp. 1–11.
  • 1988: Problems of general determinacy of all events, Berlin, Hamburg 1988.
  • 1991: The universal worldview. Evolution and natural philosophy, Darmstadt 1991.

Zoological work

  • 1928: Island melanism in molluscs. Zoologischer Anzeiger 78, 1-4.
  • 1930: A biological trip to the Lesser Sunda Islands. Berlin 1930
  • 1930. New land pulmonates from the Lesser Sunda Islands. Zoologischer Anzeiger 89, 73-88.
  • 1930. Two new land snail species from Timor according to Zoologischer Anzeiger 87, 124–126.
  • 1931. The mollusc fauna of the Lesser Sunda Islands Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Sumba. I. Zoological Yearbooks Department for Systematics, Ecology and Geography of Animals 61, 263–396.
  • 1931. For knowledge of the mollusc fauna of Timor. Zoological Yearbooks, Department for Systematics, Ecology and Geography of Animals 60, 429–606
  • 1932. The mollusc fauna of the Lesser Sunda Islands Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Sumba. II. Zoological Yearbooks Department for Systematics, Ecology and Geography of Animals 63, 1–130.
  • 1932. A new hydrobiid from the Philippines. The Philippine Journal of Science 49, 551-552.
  • 1933. The mollusc fauna of Pulu Weh and their zoogeographical relationships. Zoologischer Anzeiger 102, 195-208.
  • 1933. On the land snail fauna of Sumba. Meeting reports of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin March 15, 492–508.
  • 1933. Revision and addition of the Sarasin breed groups of Celebs land snails. Messages from the Zoological Museum in Berlin 19, 99–120.
  • 1934. The mollusc fauna of the Lesser Sunda Islands of Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Sumba. III. Zoological Yearbooks, Department of Systematics, Ecology and Geography of Animals 65, 389–582.
  • 1934. Freshwater mollusks from the German Limnological Sunda Expedition. Archives for Hydrobiology 13, 203–254.
  • 1934. For knowledge of the land and freshwater mollusks of Sumatra. Archives for Molluscology 66, 313–339.
  • 1934. Land mollusks of the German Limnological Sunda Expedition. Archives for Hydrobiology, Supplement 12, 739–758.
  • 1935. On the land snail fauna of Timor. Meeting reports of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin 1935, 311–336.
  • 1938. New land snails from Penida Island. Zoologischer Anzeiger 123, 302-306.
  • 1926. Notes on Birds of Southeast Celebes. Ornithological monthly reports 34, 174–176.
  • Rensch, I. & Rensch, B. 1929. New land mollusks from the Bismarck archipelago. Zoologischer Anzeiger 80, 75-86.
  • Rensch, I. & Rensch, B. 1934. Diagnoses of new land snails from the Solomon Islands. Meeting reports of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin, May 29, 451–453.
  • Rensch, I. & Rensch, B. 1935. Diagnoses of new land snails from the Solomon Islands. II. Reports of the meetings of the Society of Friends of Nature Research in Berlin, 451–453.
  • Rensch, I. & Rensch, B. 1935. Systematic and zoological studies on the land snails of the Solomon Islands on the basis of the collections of Dr. E. Paravicini and Dr. H. Hediger. Part I. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 42, 51–86.
  • Rensch, I. & Rensch, B. 1936. Systematic and zoological studies on the land snails of the Solomon Islands based on the collections of Dr. E. Paravicini and Dr. H. Hediger. Part II. Revue Suisse de Zoologie 42, 51–86.

Taxa newly described by Rensch

  • Alycaeus reinhardti sabangensis B. Rensch, 1933
  • Amphidromus ilsa B. Rensch, 1933
  • Anthreptes malaccensis convergens Rensch, 1929
  • Arinia crassiventris B. Rensch, 1931
  • Arinia manggaraica B. Rensch, 1931
  • Arinia palainaeformis B. Rensch, 1931
  • Arinia tjendanae B. Rensch, 1931
  • Ariophanta pseudamphidromus B. Rensch, 1930
  • Asperitas inquinata batudulangensis B. Rensch, 1931
  • Asperitas trochus mborongensis B. Rensch, 1932
  • Callianella pachystoma B. Rensch, 1931
  • Charopa baliana B. Rensch, 1930
  • Charopa vicina B. Rensch, 1930
  • Chloritis sumbawan a B. Rensch, 1930
  • Corvus coronoides inoptatus Rensch, 1928
  • Crossopoma inflammata B. Rensch, 1933
  • Curvella floresiana B. Rensch 1930
  • Cyclophorus hebereri B. Rensch, 1933
  • Cyclotus haasianus Rensch, 1931
  • Cyclotus pseudoreticulatus Rensch, 1933
  • Cyclotus ranae B. Rensch, 1931
  • Cyclotus simplicissimus B. Rensch, 1933
  • Diplommatina diplostoma B. Rensch, 1931
  • Diplommatina floris B. Rensch, 1931
  • Diplommatina fluminis B. Rensch, 1931
  • Diplommatina javana orientalis B. Rensch, 1931
  • Dryobates major stresemanni Rensch, 1924
  • Durgella sundana B. Rensch, 1930
  • Elaphroconcha planior B. Rensch, 1932
  • Ena batarae B. Rensch, 1930
  • Gyliotrachela everetti mixta B. Rensch, 1932
  • Helicarion dammermani B. Rensch, 1930
  • Helicarion floris B. Rensch, 1930
  • Hemiplecta juvenilis B. Rensch, 1930
  • Inozonites mertensi B. Rensch, 1930
  • Japonia trochulus baliensis B. Rensch, 1931
  • Kaliella ammastoma B. Rensch, 1932
  • Kaliella angigyra balica B. Rensch, 1932
  • Kaliella angigyra heteromorpha B. Rensch, 1932
  • Lagocheilus ciliocinctum baliensis Rensch 1931
  • Lagocheilus poirierii sexliratus I. & B. Rensch 1929
  • Lamprocystis batulangensis B. Rensch, 1930
  • Lamprocystis laciniata B. Rensch, 1930
  • Lamprocystis waingapuensis B. Rensch, 1930
  • Leptodontarion cingulatus B. Rensch, 1930
  • Microcystina radioplicata B. Rensch, 1930
  • Microcystina retardata B. Rensch, 1934
  • Monachalcyon fulgidus gracilirostris Rensch, 1928
  • Palaina novopommerana I. & B. Rensch 1929
  • Philalanka diminuta B. Rensch, 1932
  • Philalanka nannophya B. Rensch, 1932
  • Pisidium floresianum Rensch, 1934
  • Pupoides coenopictus connectens B. Rensch, 1932
  • Rhytida densesculpta B. Rensch, 1932
  • Sasakia vitrinolactea B. Rensch, 1930
  • Satiella extrema B. Rensch, 1933
  • Sinalbinula kamberae B. Rensch 1932
  • Taphrospira convallata sabangensis B. Rensch, 1934
  • Vitrinopsis microhelix B. Rensch, 1930
  • Xesta colorata inexpectata B. Rensch, 1930
  • Xesta notabilis B. Rensch, 1930
  • Xesta rookmakeri B. Rensch, 1930
  • Xesta trochus badjavensis B. Rensch, 1930
  • Xesta trochus pseudonemorensis B. Rensch, 1930

See also

Architects of the synthetic theory of evolution (1930–1950):

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Uwe Fritz: GfBS: Awarding of the first Bernhard Rensch Prize of the GfBS. In: gfbs-home.de. July 30, 2015, accessed July 12, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Rensch, Bernhard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rensch Bernhard Carl Emmanuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German evolutionary biologist
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1900
PLACE OF BIRTH Thale in the Harz
DATE OF DEATH April 4, 1990
Place of death Muenster