Dietrich Schneider

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Dietrich Schneider (born July 30, 1919 in Berlin ; † June 10, 2008 in Starnberg ) was a German zoologist .

Life

After graduating from high school in 1937, Dietrich Schneider first studied biology at the College for Teacher Training in Frankfurt / Oder and moved to the University of Berlin in 1938 . In 1940 he was called up for military service and was taken prisoner in North Africa. From Algeria he came to the United States and finally to England . Since he was partially able to continue his studies, he was able to do his doctorate in zoology, botany and physiology at Hansjochem Autrum at the University of Göttingen in 1949 - two years after his return home . In his dissertation he dealt with the saltatory conduction of excitation in medullary nerve fibers.

He then became a research assistant to Alfred Kühn at the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen. The focus of his research here was, among other things, the escape and prey-trapping behavior of frogs and finally he discovered the light-directed growth of marine bryozoa , known in scientific terminology as bryozoa . In addition, he dealt with electrophysiological measurements on the silk moth antenna. He succeeded for the first time in a quantitative analysis of the silk moth's sense of smell . The rejection of his research results for admission to the habilitation by the University of Tübingen led Schneider in 1958 to move to the Zoological Institute of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich . The following year he qualified as a professor with his work on the growth and phototropism of bog animals.

During a research stay in Los Angeles and Minnesota from 1959 to 1960, Schneider succeeded for the first time in demonstrating an interspecific effect of sex attractant components and in discovering the attractant alphabet in moths .

In 1962 the department for comparative neurophysiology at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry was set up especially for him. In 1964 he was appointed Scientific Member of the Max Planck Society and Director at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen. In 1965 he was appointed honorary professor at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. After his retirement in 1985 he devoted himself to chemical ecology with great enthusiasm.

meaning

Dietrich Schneider is one of the pioneers of modern olfactory research and chemical ecology. His research results became trend-setting for olfactory research all over the world. In the course of his research life he received numerous awards. In 1971 he was made a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Boston, in 1975 a member of the Leopoldina and in 1977 a member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . In 1990 he became First Distinguished Professor of the Center for Insect Science at the University of Arizona. In 1991 he received the silver medal of the International Society for Chemical Ecology and in 1995 he was awarded the Cothenius Medal of the Leopoldina as the founder of modern olfactory physiology . In 1992 the University of Regensburg awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Works

  • For local irritation and blocking in the internode of the isolated medullary nerve fiber of the frog. Dissertation, University of Göttingen 1949, at Hansjochem Autrum.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schneider, Dietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH July 30, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH June 10, 2008
Place of death Starnberg