Werner Nightingale

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Werner Nachtigall (born June 7, 1934 in Saaz , Czechoslovakia ) is a German zoologist . He is considered one of the founders of bionics in Germany.

Life

After graduating from high school in Augsburg , he studied natural sciences in the fields of biology, physics, chemistry and geography at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich with a diploma in technical biology and bionics. In 1959 he was at Werner Jacobs with a zoological work on a motion physiological and biophysical issue with bionic importance to Dr. rer. nat. PhD . First he was a research assistant at the Radiation Biology Institute in Neuherberg from 1959 to 1961 , and later at the Zoological Institute of the University of Munich. His research focus during this time already includes questions from the field of bionics. In 1966 he completed his habilitation on flight biophysics . This was followed in 1967 by a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley .

In 1969 he received a reputation as a professor and director of the Zoological Institute of the University of Saarland . On his initiative, the study program "Technical Biology and Bionics" was introduced at the Saarland University in 1990. In 1990 he co-founded the Society for Technical Biology and Bionics, and was its first chairman until 2003.

After his retirement in 2002 he became head of the bionics competence network BIOKON at Saarland University, which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research .

Act

Through his research, among other things on movement mechanisms in the animal kingdom and biostatics, in which he consistently merged various scientific and engineering disciplines, he became a pioneer of bionics in Germany. In addition to scientific publications, he published several popular science books and articles with which he was able to arouse broad public interest in this young branch of research.

Werner Nachtigall is active in numerous committees. He is a member of the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz . He has published over 300 scientific publications and over 30 books, mostly in the field of technical biology, flight biomechanics and bionics.

Awards and honors

  • 1982: Karl-Ritter-von-Frisch-Medal , Science Award of the German Zoological Society (DZG)
  • 1996: Building award from the Fritz Bender Foundation (Munich) for the development of a ventilation system based on the termite building principle (together with Georg Rummel)
  • 2002: International Rhineland Prize for Environmental Protection from TÜV Berlin-Brandenburg-Rhineland
  • 2004: Treviranus Medal of the Association of German Biologists (VdBiol)

Works

  • Glass wings. From a workshop of biophysical research. Moos, Munich 1968.
  • In the realm of the thousandth of a second. The fascination of insect flight. With photos by Rolf Nagel . Gerstenberg, Hildesheim 1988, ISBN 3-8067-2043-6 .
  • Bionics. Basics and examples for engineers and natural scientists. Springer, Berlin 1998; 2nd edition 2002, ISBN 3-540-43660-X .
  • with Kurt G. Blüchel : The great book of bionics. New technologies modeled on nature. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-421-05379-0 .
  • Nature makes you inventive. The big book of bionics. Ravensburger, Ravensburg 2001; 2nd edition 2007, ISBN 978-3-473-55149-1 .
  • Insect flight. Construction morphology, biomechanics, flight behavior. Springer, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-540-00047-X .
  • Construction bionics. Nature, analogies, technology. Springer, Berlin 2003; 2nd edition 2013, ISBN 978-3-540-88994-6 .
  • Biological design. Systematic catalog for bionic design. Springer, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-540-22789-X .
  • Ecophysics. Chats about life on land, in the water and in the air. Springer, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-540-28878-3 .
  • Bionics - what is it? What can it do? What shoud that? Audio CD. Supposé, Cologne 2006, ISBN 978-3-932513-72-5 .
  • Bionics. Learning from nature. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-53636-6 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Member entry of Werner Nachtigall at the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz
personal data
SURNAME Nightingale, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist, pioneer of bionics
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Saaz