Erich von Holst

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Erich von Holst ( Erich Walther von Holst ; born November 28, 1908 in Riga , † May 26, 1962 in Herrsching am Ammersee ) was a German biologist , behavioral biologist and neuroethologist .

Life

Origin and education

Erich von Holst is the descendant of a pastor family from Basedow near Malchin , whose roots can be traced back to the 16th century. The historian Hermann Eduard von Holst (1841–1904) also belongs to the von Holst family . Erich von Holst's parents were the psychiatrist Dr. Walther von Holst (* 1872) and his wife Dora, née Dehio (* 1882).

Born in Riga, Erich von Holst spent his school days in Danzig .

He studied at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel , the University of Vienna and the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin . From Richard Hesse , Holst was promoted to Dr. von Holst in 1932 on the subject of investigations into the function of the central nervous system in earthworms. phil. PhD. After receiving his doctorate, von Holst went on a scholarship to the human physiologist Albrecht Bethe , head of the Institute for Animal Physiology at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main , where he mainly developed and refined his experimental methodology.

job

From 1934 to 1936 he carried out research as an assistant at the Naples Zoological Station in the field of the kinetics and effect of forces and their relative coordination in relation to the flight of birds and the function of statoliths .

In 1937 Erich von Holst joined the Zoological Institute at the University of Berlin as an assistant. In Berlin he met Konrad Lorenz for the first time on February 12, 1937 and, following his lecture, convinced him of the inaccuracy of the reflex chain theory , which was then widely accepted - an important milestone for Lorenz and the history of behavioral research . Von Holst completed his habilitation in 1938 with the design of a system of locomotor period formation in fish as a senior assistant at the Zoological Institute of the Georg-August University in Göttingen .

In 1946 Holst became a full professor of zoology and director of the zoological institute of the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg .

In 1949 he co-founded the later Max Planck Institute for Marine Biology in Wilhelmshaven (later renamed the Max Planck Institute for Cell Biology after a change of location , closed in 2003). There he headed a department devoted to sensory physiology and the behavior of fish. In this function, from autumn 1950 he set up a research center for comparative behavioral research as an offshoot of the Wilhelmshaven Institute in Buldern / Westphalia, which Konrad Lorenz became head of in 1951.

On April 1, 1954, Holst's department and the research center in Buldern were merged into a separate Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology , for which institute buildings were erected at Eßsee near Starnberg in Upper Bavaria from 1955 . The new location was called Seewiesen, and Erich von Holst became the director of the new institute with Konrad Lorenz as his deputy. In 1957, von Holst was elected a member of the Leopoldina . From 1947 to 1949 he was a full and, since 1949, corresponding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences . In 1947 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

He died in 1962 at the age of 53 of a heart condition that had existed since childhood.

Private

Erich von Holst was also a passionate musician. Largely self-taught, he began quite late, namely at the age of 17, to acquire and perfect the playing of the viola . He preferred to play in a quartet or as a soloist.

In his first marriage, Erich von Holst was married to Hildegard Schawaller (* 1906) from 1936, and in his second marriage from 1951 to Eveline Grisebach (1922–2001), a doctor, the daughter of the art historian August Grisebach .

His son Dietrich von Holst , born in Gdansk in 1937, also became an important biologist: The emeritus of the Institute for Animal Physiology at the University of Bayreuth did research in particular on socially induced stress in mammals .

Services

Behavioral research

Erich von Holst was a technically extremely talented experimenter. In search of solutions to problems, he developed sophisticated test arrangements and models. His flight models of birds and pterosaurs, powered by a rubber motor , remained unsurpassed . Bernhard Hassenstein characterizes the extensive behavioral physiological findings that made von Holst one of the co-founders of neuroethology in eight points:

  1. Proof of physiological self-activity of the central nervous system ,
  2. Discovery and research of the M-effect as a central nervous coordinating principle of relative coordination in the locomotion of vertebrates,
  3. Description of the interaction of wing arm and wing hand in bird flight as well as elucidation of the flight principle of dragonflies ,
  4. Discovery of the shear as an adequate stimulus for the sensory cells of the statolith apparatus ,
  5. Discovery of the reactivity principle (setpoint adjustment with active movement) - together with Horst Mittelstaedt ,
  6. Recognition of the self-reflex as a functional part of a slave control loop ,
  7. Interpretation of optical-geometric illusions as a constant achievement in the service of spatial vision,
  8. Determination of functional relationships of instinctive behavior through brain stimulation experiments on chickens and formulation of the principle of level-appropriate terminology.

Contributions to music and instrument studies

Von Holst systematically analyzed the influence of various components on the sound of self-made violins and violas that are ready for concerts . To solve the so-called viola problem - violas that are easy to hold are too small for the required tuning - he developed an asymmetrical viola, following the biological principle of allometry , which, surprisingly, could not be distinguished from symmetrical instruments in terms of sound (see viola # curiosities ). He could no longer complete his book Violin Studies for Lovers .

Fonts

  • Studies on the functions of the central nervous system in earthworms (= Zoological Yearbooks , Volume 51, Department of General Zoology and Physiology , 1932 ISSN  0044-5193 ), Gustav Fischer, Jena 1932 DNB 570706548 , OCLC 45622317 , pp. 547-588 (dissertation University of Berlin , Philosophical Faculty, 1932, 42 pages).
  • Draft of a system of locomotor period formations in fish , in: Journal for comparative physiology . Volume 26, Issue 4 ISSN  0044-362X , Springer, Berlin 1939, DNB 57070653X , OCLC 250258874 , pp. 481-528 (habilitation thesis Universität Göttingen May 17, 1939, 48 pages).
  • Biological and aerodynamic problems of animal flight. In: The natural sciences. Volume 29, No. 24/25, 1941, pp. 348–362.
  • Studies on flight biophysics, I. Measurements on the aerodynamics of small swinging wings. In: Biological Zentralblatt. Volume 63, No. 7/8, 1943, pp. 289-326.
  • with Horst Mittelstaedt : The Reafferenzprinzip. (Interactions between the central nervous system and the periphery). In: The natural sciences. Volume 37, No. 20, 1950, p. 464 ff.
  • On behavioral physiology in animals and humans. Collected treatises in 2 volumes. Piper Paperback, Munich 1969 (Volume I) and 1970 (Volume II), ISBN 3-492-01784-3

literature

  • Gothaisches genealogical pocket book of the noble houses. Part B 1928. Justus Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1928, page 265.
  • Bernhard Hassenstein : Erich von Holst in memoriam. In: Verband Deutscher Biologen eV (Ed.): 4th Biological Annual Issue 1964. pp. 11–18.
  • Bernhard Hassenstein: Erich von Holst (1908–1962). In: Ilse Jahn & Michael Schmitt (eds.): Darwin & Co. A history of biology in portraits. Volume II. CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-44639-6 .
  • Konrad Lorenz : On the death of Erich von Holst. In: The natural sciences. Volume 49, No. 17, 1962, pp. 385-386, full text
  • Konrad Lorenz: Erich von Holst, seer and researcher. In: Biological annual magazine of the Association of German Biologists. Volume 4, 1964, pp. 19–24, full text (PDF)
  • Konrad Lorenz: In memory of the findings of Erich von Holst. In: Klaus Immelmann (ed.): Grzimeks animal life. Complementary Volume Behavioral Research. Kindler Verlag, Zurich 1974, pages XIV – XX.
  • Gerolf Steiner:  Holst, Erich von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-428-00190-7 , pp. 547 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Antal Festetics : Konrad Lorenz. From the world of the great natural scientist. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1988, ISBN 3-423-11044-9 , p. 15
  2. ^ A foundation in difficult times - the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Marine Biology in Wilhelmshaven (1947–1948). Marion Kazemi : Max Planck Multimedial. Activity report 2005
  3. ^ Franz M. Wuketits : Konrad Lorenz. Life and work of a great naturalist. Piper, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-492-03372-5 , p. 121.
  4. ^ Franz M. Wuketits: Konrad Lorenz. Life and work of a great naturalist. Piper, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-492-03372-5 , p. 123 ff.
  5. ^ Members of the HAdW since it was founded in 1909. Erich von Holst. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, accessed on July 4, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 117.
  7. ^ Bernhard Hassenstein : Erich von Holst (1908-1962). In: Ilse Jahn & Michael Schmitt (eds.): Darwin & Co. A history of biology in portraits. Volume II. CH Beck, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-406-44639-6 , p. 416 f.
  8. ↑ Referred to as the magnet effect by von Holst.
personal data
SURNAME Holst, Erich von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holst, Erich Walther von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biologist and behavioral scientist
DATE OF BIRTH November 28, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Riga , Latvia
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 1962
Place of death Herrsching am Ammersee , Starnberg district , Upper Bavaria