Quotes & anectdotes from the wise, the foolish, the courageous & the drunk

Konrad Lorenz Academic

  • Gender: Male
  • Citizenship: Austria
  • Born: Nov 7, 1903
  • Died: Feb 27, 1989

Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. He shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch. He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, developing an approach that began with an earlier generation, including his teacher Oskar Heinroth.

Lorenz studied instinctive behavior in animals, especially in greylag geese and jackdaws. Working with geese, he investigated the principle of imprinting, the process by which some nidifugous birds, bond with the first moving object that they saw within the first hours of hatching. Although Lorenz did not discover the topic, he became widely known for his descriptions of imprinting as an instinctive emotional bond. In 1936 he met Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen, and the two collaborated in developing ethology as a separate sub-discipline of biology.

Lorenz's work was interrupted by the onset of World War II and in 1941 he was recruited into the German army as a medic. In 1944 he was sent to the Eastern Front where he was captured and spent 4 years as a Soviet prisoner of war. After the war he regretted his membership of the Nazi party.

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young. being good, morning, pets & science

We do not take humor seriously enough. humor

St. Patrick's Day March 17, 2025

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Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy. 28 other views from William Butler Yeats

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Geographically, Ireland is a medium-sized rural island that is slowly but steadily being consumed by sheep. 27 more wisdom & wit from Dave Barry

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We have always found the Irish a bit odd. They refuse to be English. 74 other views from Winston Churchill

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