Konrad Lorenz dies

1989/03/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Biografiak

Following the family tradition (his father was a surgeon) he studied medicine, but never abandoned zoology and in 1933 he obtained a doctorate in zoology. In 1935 he did his best work by analyzing the behavior of duck newborns. Lorenz realized that newborn duck babies followed the first moving object that passed by her side and considered her a mother. Then the concept of impregnation was born, widely used today.

In 1937 he obtained a Chair of Comparative Anatomy and Animal Psychology at the University of Vienna. In 1940 he moved to the University of Königsberg. He was mobilized in 1942 and worked as a doctor in the German army. In 1944 he was a prisoner of war and could not return to Vienna until 1948.

Konrad Lorenz is the creator of modern ethology. It is the branch of biology that studies ethology, animal and human behavior through comparative zoological methods.

In recent years he had special interest in studying the mechanisms and roots of aggression, in order to find a way to understand the cause of high violence in large cities.