Ludwig Auber

Ludwig Auber or later Lewis Auber (born June 24, 1899 in Vienna , † September 16, 1974 in Edinburgh ) was an Austrian ornithologist .

Live and act

Both parents were music teachers in Vienna. His mother later lived with him and his wife Clotilde in Scotland. After many difficulties in the first years of his life, he was finally able to realize his dreams and studied zoology with Wilhelm Marinelli (1894–1973) at the University of Vienna . In 1937 he received his doctorate in philosophy there . During this time he worked a. a. also with Moriz Sassi . In 1938 he wrote an article for Embrik Strand (1876–1947) on the genus of the Red Loris ( Eos ) Wagler , 1832. At the invitation of Fabius Gross (1906–1950), he went to the University of Edinburgh's Zoology Department in 1938 to help the German occupation to escape. As the situation the UK as part of Operation Dynamo Zugspitze, there was a wave of detentions of civilians, of people that could jeopardize the country potentially. Among them were Gross and Auber, who were taken to a camp on the Isle of Man .

After the war in 1946 he became Senior Scientific Officer at the Wool Industries Research Association in Leeds . Here he dealt mainly with the histology of wool follicles. One of his most important works from this period was an article from 1952 entitled The anatomy of follicles producing wool-fibers, with special reference to keratinization .

After retiring in Leeds, he moved back to his beloved Edinburgh. Here he worked on his research focus on bird feathers . So that he could carry out his research, he received funding from the Carnegie Foundation and the Royal Society in London. First he worked again in the zoological department of the university and later at the Royal Scottish Museum . He was regarded as a luminary in the field of feather research and published at least 25 articles on many aspects of feather growth. Auber was fascinated by the development of colors in feathers. He enjoyed working with anyone who could give him advice on physical and chemical aspects in this area. He spent a lot of time at the microtome and microscope , which was reflected in the high quality of his structural drawings in his publications. He documented every point, no matter how small . This passion for feathers haunted him all his life. So he published well into old age about marrow cells or the spongy structure (which he called cloudy media ) of feathers. His artistic skills also resulted in many common bird tablets. He especially loved the sheen and variety of patterns in tropical birds.

Memberships and honors

Auber was a founding member of the Scottish Skin Biology Club and regularly attended their meetings. Since 1952 he was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

In 1988 his wife Clotide founded the Auber Bequest Award , which aims to promote British citizens or people who want to acquire British citizenship. The eligible persons should be over sixty years old and live in Scotland or England. To this end, they should be active in academic and non-industrial research. The price is set at £ 3,000 for up to two years.

Publications (selection)

• The racial group Chalcopsittacus duiveribodei Dubois . In: Ornithological Indicator . tape 2 , no. 8 , 1934, pp. 313-315 .
• The races and species of the genus Eos. Enclosure A: Exact description of the examined material, as well as extract from the literature (Univ. Diss.) . NA, Vienna 1937.
• in Embrik Strand: The races and species of the Eos Wagler (Aves) genus in a commemorative publication on the 60th birthday of Professor Dr. Embrik Beach . tape 4 . NA, Riga 1938, p. 673-782 .
• The Color-Producing Structure in the 'Dominant Gray' Budgerigar . In: Nature . tape 144 , 1939, pp. 157-158 , doi : 10.1038 / 144157a0 .
• The colors of feathers and their structural causes in varieties of the Budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus (Shaw). Ph.D. Thesis . NA, Edinburgh 1941 ( ed.ac.uk [PDF; 9.1 MB ]).
• with John Edwin George Raymont: Water Contents of Last-Stage Larvæ, Pupæ and Adults of the Meal Moth . In: Nature . tape 153 , 1944, pp. 314 , doi : 10.1038 / 153314a0 .
• with Marca Burn: Replacement of Fibers in Sheep . In: Nature . tape 160 , 1947, pp. 834 , doi : 10.1038 / 160836a0 .
• with Harry Milthorp Appleyard: Surface Cells of Feather Barbs . In: Nature . tape 168 , 1951, pp. 736-737 , doi : 10.1038 / 168736b0 .
• The anatomy of follicles producing wool fibers, with special reference to keratinization . In: Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . tape 62 , no. 1 , 1952, pp. 191-254 , doi : 10.1017 / S0080456800009285 .
• William Charles Osman Hill: Examples of hybridization between two species of macaw (Ara) . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences . tape 65 , 1953, pp. 117-120 , doi : 10.1017 / S0080455X00000461 .
• with Michael Lawson Ryder: Abnormal Growths associated with Wool Follicles in Sheep . In: Nature . tape 174 , 1954, pp. 743-744 , doi : 10.1038 / 174743b0 .
• Cortex and medulla of bird feathers . In: Nature . tape 176 , 1955, pp. 1218-1219 , doi : 10.1038 / 1761218b0 .
• The structures producing "non-iridescent" blue color in bird feathers . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society . tape 129 , no. 2 , 1957, p. 455-485 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.1957.tb00307.x .
• The distribution of structural colors and unusual pigments in the Class Aves . In: The Ibis . tape 99 , no. 3 , 1957, pp. 463-476 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1474-919X.1957.tb01960.x .
• Magenta color in feathers: a parallelism . In: The Ibis . tape 100 , no. 4 , 1958, pp. 571-581 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1474-919X.1958.tb07961.x .
• The possible evolutionary significance of differences in feather structure between closely related Pittidae (Passeres: Mesomyodes) . In: Journal of the Linnean Society of London, Zoology . tape 45 , no. 305 , 1964, pp. 245-250 , doi : 10.1111 / j.1096-3642.1964.tb00499.x .
• Formation of 'polyhedral' cell cavities in cloudy media of bird feathers . In: Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences . tape 74 , 1974, pp. 27-41 , doi : 10.1017 / S0080455X00012297 .
• The structure of feathers in Chlorophanes purpurascens . In: Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club . tape 94 , no. 2 , 1974, p. 49-55 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

literature

• Cecil Arnold Beevers: Obituary Notices Lewis Auber DPhil (Vienna), PhD (Edin) in Year Book of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . Royal Society of Edinburgh, Edinburgh 1975, ISBN 978-0-902198-05-0 , pp. 5 ( rse.org.uk [PDF; 100 kB ]).
• Hans Gál, Eva Fox-Gal: Music behind barbed wire: diary sheets from the summer of 1940 . Peter Lang International Academic Publishers, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-906764-87-0 .
• Paul Weindling: Safe haven: refugee biologists . In: Biologist . tape 61 , no. 1 , 2014, p. 24-27 , PMC 4496658 (free full text).
• András Keve, Gerth von Rokitansky: Hofrat Dr. Moriz Sassi 1880–1967 (with portrait) . In: Annals of the Natural History Museum in Vienna . tape 73 , 1969, p. 5–10 ( PDF on ZOBODAT ).
• The Royal Society of Edinburgh: Auber Bequest Award in Directory 2002 (Session 2001–2002) . The RSE Scotland Foundation, 2002, ISSN  1476-4334 , p. 54 ( scribd.com ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Cecil Arnold Beevers, p. 5.
2. ^ András Keve et al. a., p. 7.
3. ↑ Paul Weindling, p. 7 (in PDF).
4. ↑ Hans Gál u. a., p. 153.
5. ↑ Ludwig Auber (1952).
6. ^ The Royal Society of Edinburgh, p. 54.
7. ^ Auber Bequest Award