Horst Mittelstaedt (biologist)

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Horst Mittelstaedt (born April 28, 1923 in Neumünster ; † February 18, 2016 in Munich ) was a German biologist and cyberneticist . Together with Erich von Holst , he first described the principle of reactivity in 1950 .

Life

Horst Mittelstaedt worked at the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology in Seewiesen until its dissolution in 1999 . From 1960 to 1991 he headed his own department there. At the same time and until his retirement on September 30, 2004, Mittelstaedt was honorary professor at the chair for communications engineering at the Technical University of Munich .

Mittelstaedt's scientific focus was on the principles and mechanisms of message processing in the organism and on cybernetic behavior analysis. He dealt in particular with the navigation performance of animals and the regulation of the balance in animals and humans (subjective vertical).

Fonts (selection)

  • Physiology of the sense of balance in flying dragonflies , in: Journal for comparative physiology . Volume 32, Stürtz, Würzburg 1950, pp. 422-463, DNB 480216215 , OCLC 720205713 (Dissertation University of Heidelberg, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, July 27, 1949, 84 pages, DNB 978788338 ).
  • with E. v. Holst: The principle of reactivity. In: Natural Sciences. Volume 37, No. 20, 1950, pp. 464-476, doi: 10.1007 / BF00622503
  • Introduction to the cybernetics of behavior using the example of orientation in space. In: W. Hoppe, W. Lohmann, H. Markl, H. Ziegler (Ed.): Biophysik. 2nd Edition. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1982, ISBN 3-540-11335-5 .
  • The Information Processing Structure of the Subjective Vertical. A Cybernetic Bridge between its Psychophysics and its Neurobiology. In: H. Marko, G. Hauske, A. Struppler (Eds.): Processing Structures for Perception and Action: Final Report of the Collaborative Research Center “Cybernetics” 1969–1983. VCH, Weinheim, New York, Cambridge, Basel 1988, ISBN 3-527-27705-6 , pp. 217-263.

literature

  • Manfred Gahr , Sabine Spehn: Horst Mittelstaedt: April 28, 1923 - February 18, 2016 (obituary to Mittelstaedt), in: Annual Report of the Max Planck Society 2016, Beileger, pages 6–7.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary
  2. ^ Max Planck Institute for Ornithology: History of the Seewiesen location
  3. ↑ Activity report of the Chair of Telecommunications at the Technical University of Munich April 1, 2003 - March 31, 2005, p. 5 ( Memento from January 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 1.4 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Mittelstaedt, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German cyberneticist and biologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Neumunster
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 2016
Place of death Munich