Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke
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| Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke | |
 Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke ca. 1980
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| Born | June 13, 1914 Pomerania |
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| Died | November 21, 2000 (aged 86) Hamburg, Germany |
| Occupation | zoologist, ornithologist, herpetologist |
| Spouse | Maria Koepcke |
| Children | Juliane Diller Köpcke |
Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke (b. Pomerania, June 13, 1914, d. Hamburg, Germany, November 21, 2000) was a famous zoologist and ornithologist. He was married to another famous ornithologist, Maria Koepcke and was the father of mammalogist Juliane Diller Köpcke, who became famous as the sole survivor of the crash of LANSA Flight 508.[1]
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[edit] Scientific work in Peru
Koepcke studied at the University of Kiel, Germany, earning a doctorate in Natural Sciences in 1947. He then traveled to Peru where he started work at the Javier Prado Museum of Natural History in Lima, an institution affiliated with the National University of San Marcos.
Along with his wife Maria, whom he met at the University of Kiel and later married in Peru, he spent much of his life studying the Peruvian and South American fauna. He co-authored with Maria many scientific publications, mostly ornithological. His greatest individual academic accomplishment was the publication (in German) of the 1,684 page two volume opus entitled Die Lebensformen: Grundlagen zu einer universell gültigen biologischen Theorie (Life Forms: The basis for a universally valid biological theory), in 1971 and 1973. According to François Vuilleumier, curator of the Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History in New York:[2]
The number of topics covered in this monumental work (volume 1, pages 1–789; volume 2, pages 790–1,684) is simply astonishing, and includes the concept of adaptation, death of individuals and of species, homology, systematics, ecological specialization, teleology, convergences, social signalization, mimicry, sexuality, mating systems, and many others. Richly illustrated, this work draws its empirical examples from many forms of life, where birds, and Peruvian or South American birds especially, figure prominently.[1]
[edit] Tragedy and miraculous survival
On Christmas Eve of 1971, his wife Maria and daughter Juliane (who was 17 years old at the time) were traveling from Lima to Pucallpa, both in Peru, on LANSA Flight 508 to join him for the holidays, when their Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop encountered a thunderstorm and was struck by lightning, exploding and crashing into the Amazon jungle.[3] Maria died in the crash, while Juliane, who fell 2 miles down to the jungle still strapped to her seat, was the only survivor of the 92 persons on board the flight. Despite sustaining a broken collar bone and an eye injury in the fall, Juliane was able to walk for 10 days in the dense jungle until reaching civilization. She later fully recovered from her injuries and completed her studies in Germany, and became a mammalogist specializing in bats. (See main articles: Juliane Köpcke and LANSA Flight 508).
[edit] Return to Germany
After returning from Peru to Germany, Hans-Wilhelm lived in Hamburg, where he worked at the herpetology department and taught zoology at the Zoological Institute and Museum of the University of Hamburg.[4]
