Karl von Frisch

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Karl Ritter von Frisch (November 20, 1886 – June 12, 1982) was an Austrian ethologist who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973, along with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz.

He studied zoology with Richard von Hertwig whom he later succeeded as a professor of zoology at Munich, Germany. He studied the senses of bees, identified their mechanisms of communication and showed their sensitivity to ultraviolet and polarized light. In the center of his work were the study of the sensory perceptions of the honey bee and was one of the first who translated the meaning of the waggle dance. The theory was disputed by other scientists and greeted with skepticism at the time. Only recently was it definitively proved to be an accurate theoretical analysis (see Nature magazine reference).

In 1973 he was awarded Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine for his achievements in comparative behavioral physiology and pioneering work in communication between insects.

[edit] See also

• List of Austrian scientists
• List of Austrians

[edit] Notes

• Note regarding personal names: Ritter is a title, translated approximately as Knight, not a first or middle name. There is no equivalent female form.

[edit] External links and references

• Karl Von Frisch, Dancing Bees: An Account of the Life and Senses of the Honey Bee.
• Dance and communication of honey bees
• The flight paths of honeybees recruited by the waggle dance, Nature 435, May 2005, pp.205-207.
• Karl von Frisch, Decoding the Language of the Bee, Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1973
• Biography and bibliography in the Virtual Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science