Hans Joachim Müller (zoologist)

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Hans Joachim Müller (born November 11, 1911 in Leipzig , † June 20, 2007 in Großhansdorf ) was a German zoologist .

Life

Müller was born in Leipzig as the only child of the teacher Friedrich Wilhelm Müller and his wife Johanna. The father was killed in World War I when Hans Joachim Müller was just four years old. Müller continued to grow up in Leipzig and graduated from high school in 1931. He has been observing birds since his school days, often together with his school friend Heinrich Dathe , who later became the founder and director of the Berlin Zoo . This interest persisted into old age and initially determined his desire to study with Erwin Stresemann in Berlin. For financial reasons, however, Müller began studying geology with Franz Kossmat in Leipzig. At the University of Leipzig he also studied chemistry with Burckhardt Helferich , botany with Wilhelm Ruhland and zoology with Johannes Meisenheimer and his successor Paul Buchner . By studying philosophy, education and psychology, he originally wanted to qualify for a position as a high school teacher. Buchner managed to get Müller excited about his research on endosymbiosis . Müller finally wrote a dissertation on cicadas on the subject of "The symbiosis of the Fulgoroids " , which was last supported by a grant from the Reich Research Council until 1939 . From 1939 to 1941, Hans Joachim Müller worked for Hans Blunck in Bonn on the biology and wintering of the pollen beetle . During the war he was stationed on the island of Juist , but was able to keep busy with birdwatching and collecting cicadas. After his release from English captivity, he first went to Halle (Saale) and earned his living, among other things, by writing popular nature books. In 1948 he went to the newly founded Institute for Plant Breeding in Quedlinburg . There he dealt with aphids , in particular with the black bean louse . In addition, he worked on the approximately 200-page part of the handbook of plant diseases published by Hans Blunck on cicadas, aleurodids and psyllids. Müller was allowed to continue researching cicadas in Quedlinburg and to carry out first experiments on photoperiodics and dormancy . In 1949 he received the national prize of the GDR 2nd class as a collective.

In 1958, Müller completed his habilitation in Leipzig on the subject of "The effect of exogenous factors on the seasonal formation of insects, especially the genus Euscelis " and received the license to teach ( Venia legendi ) for zoology and comparative anatomy. In 1959 he became a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and in 1965 a full member of the German Academy of Sciences . In the same year, at Manfred Gersch's request, Müller accepted the call to the newly created professorship for special zoology and entomology at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena . His first employees were Gerhard Schäller and Rudolf Bährmann . When Alfred Kaestner died unexpectedly in 1971, he took over a large part of the completion of the two insect volumes of the textbook of special zoology. Hans Joachim Müller retired in 1977. Since then, he has continued to do ecological research on cicadas, now mostly on his own. At the age of 81 he published the monograph "Dormanz bei Arthropoden". Müller died at the age of 95 in Großhansdorf near Hamburg.

The German Society for General and Applied Entomology honored him three times: in 1959 with the award of the Escherich Medal , in 1982 with the award of the Fabricius Medal and in 1991 with an honorary membership in the society.

Books (selection)

  • Hans Joachim Müller: Identification of invertebrates: picture panels for zoological identification exercises and excursions. Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-437-20334-7 .

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Individual evidence

  1. ^ The German National Prize Winners in 1949 . In: New Germany . August 26, 1949.

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