{"id":1469,"date":"2021-06-16T15:33:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T13:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/?page_id=1469"},"modified":"2026-04-20T15:14:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T13:14:26","slug":"honorary-members-of-ethologische-gesellschaft","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/honorary-members-of-ethologische-gesellschaft\/","title":{"rendered":"Honorary members"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Ethological Society awards honorary membership to members of our society who have distinguished themselves through their commitment to the Ethological Society (Ethologische Gesellschaft e.V.) and or through their outstanding contributions to the advancement of ethology at the international level. Honorary memberships are lifetime appointments and represent the highest honour that the Ethological Society can confer on an individual. Candidates may be nominated by members of the society with a short written statement. Nominations can be submitted at any time and are reviewed by the executive board together with the extended board. Below you will find a list of all former and current honorary members (in chronological order):<\/p>\n

Nikolaas Tinbergen (1982 to 1988)
Konrad Lorenz (1982 to 1989) *
G\u00fcnter Tembrock (1986 to 2011)
Gerald Baerends (1989 to 1999)
Christiane Buchholz (2000 to 2023)
Dierk Franck (2000 to 2023)
Eberhard Curio (2000 to 2020)
Piet Sevenster (2000 to 2014)
Serge Daan (2008 to 2018)<\/p>\n

Dietrich von Holst (since 2008)
Fritz Trillmich (since 2013)
Norbert Sachser (since 2013)
Barbara K\u00f6nig (since 2023)
Michael Taborsky (since 2024)<\/p>\n

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* In 1982, the Ethologische Gesellschaft invited the two Nobel laureates, Nico Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz, to become its first two honorary members. Both scientists played a significant part in establishing behavioural biology as an independent field of study within biology, and the Ethologische Gesellschaft wanted to honour them for this achievement.<\/p>\n

Konrad Lorenz was a keen observer of animal behaviour. He had a lasting impact on the field of research, particularly in German-speaking countries. Through his popular books, he inspired several generations to become behavioural biologists.<\/p>\n

However, there is a dark side to Lorenz. During the German national socialist (NS) regime, he was a member of the NSDAP and actively supported the biologistic and eugenic ideas that were central to the NS regime. After the fall of the Third Reich, Lorenz played down his role. Throughout his life, he never seemed to reflect on his views regarding human degeneration and social decline (Kalikow, 2020). Moreover, he continued to publish popular books that propagated these views (e.g. in \u201cDie acht Tods\u00fcnden der zivilisierten Menschheit\u201d).<\/p>\n

Those who wish to explore Konrad Lorenz\u2019s role during and after the National Socialist period in greater depth may find Kalikow (2020) a useful and accessible starting point. A more comprehensive historical account of the early development of ethology, including Lorenz\u2019s role during the Nazi regime, is provided by Burkhardt (2005).<\/p>\n

Lorenz became honorary member of our society in 1982; his membership ended with his death in 1989. The Ethologische Gesellschaft stands for liberty, equality, humanism and democracy \u2013 as we state on our homepage<\/a>. These values are core ethical values of humanity, and we believe that science can only flourish in such an environment. If Lorenz were still alive, we would not consider him eligible for honorary membership of our society.<\/p>\n

Burkhardt RW, 2005. Patterns of behavior. Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
\nKalikow TJ, 2020. Konrad Lorenz on human degeneration and social decline: a chronic preoccupation. Animal Behaviour 164:267-272. doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.anbehav.2020.01.007.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ethological Society awards honorary membership to members of our society who have distinguished themselves through their commitment to the Ethological Society (Ethologische Gesellschaft e.V.) and or through their outstanding contributions to the advancement of ethology at the international level. Honorary memberships are lifetime appointments and represent the highest honour that the Ethological Society can confer on an individual. Candidates may be nominated by members of the society with a short written statement. Nominations can be submitted at any time and are reviewed by the executive board together with the extended board. Below you will find a list of all former and current honorary members (in chronological order): Nikolaas Tinbergen (1982 to 1988)Konrad Lorenz (1982 to 1989) *G\u00fcnter Tembrock (1986 to 2011)Gerald Baerends (1989 to 1999)Christiane Buchholz (2000 to 2023)Dierk Franck (2000 to 2023)Eberhard Curio (2000 to 2020)Piet Sevenster (2000 to 2014)Serge Daan (2008 to 2018) Dietrich von Holst (since 2008)Fritz Trillmich (since 2013)Norbert Sachser (since 2013)Barbara K\u00f6nig (since 2023)Michael Taborsky (since 2024) * In 1982, the Ethologische Gesellschaft invited the two Nobel laureates, Nico Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz, to become its first two honorary members. Both scientists played a significant part in establishing behavioural biology as an independent field of study within biology, and the Ethologische Gesellschaft wanted to honour them for this achievement. Konrad Lorenz was a keen observer of animal behaviour. He had a lasting impact on the field of research, particularly in German-speaking countries. Through his popular books, he inspired several generations to become behavioural biologists. However, there is a dark side to Lorenz. During the German national socialist (NS) regime, he was a member of the NSDAP and actively supported the biologistic and eugenic ideas that were central to the NS regime. After the fall of the Third Reich, Lorenz played down his role. Throughout his life, he never seemed to reflect on his views regarding human degeneration and social decline (Kalikow, 2020). Moreover, he continued to publish popular books that propagated these views (e.g. in \u201cDie acht Tods\u00fcnden der zivilisierten Menschheit\u201d). Those who wish to explore Konrad Lorenz\u2019s role during and after the National Socialist period in greater depth may find Kalikow (2020) a useful and accessible starting point. A more comprehensive historical account of the early development of ethology, including Lorenz\u2019s role during the Nazi regime, is provided by Burkhardt (2005). Lorenz became honorary member of our society in 1982; his membership ended with his death in 1989. The Ethologische Gesellschaft stands for liberty, equality, humanism and democracy \u2013 as we state on our homepage. These values are core ethical values of humanity, and we believe that science can only flourish in such an environment. If Lorenz were still alive, we would not consider him eligible for honorary membership of our society. Burkhardt RW, 2005. Patterns of behavior. Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. Kalikow TJ, 2020. Konrad Lorenz on human degeneration and social decline: a chronic preoccupation. Animal Behaviour 164:267-272. doi: https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.anbehav.2020.01.007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1469","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["en","de"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1469"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2420,"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1469\/revisions\/2420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.etho-ges.de\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}