Frisch (Frisch), Carl von

November 20, 1886, Mr.. - June 12, 1982
Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch was born in Vienna, was the youngest of four sons of Anton Ritter von Frisch, a surgeon and urologist, and his wife Mary (nц?e Exner). Relatives, who included scientists, doctors and professors, to promote the intellectual development of an inquisitive boy. In a country house on the lake. Wolfgang in Bryunvinkle, where the family spent the summer, little Karl could smoothly indulge their hobbies, spending long hours in the observation of the animals. He kept detailed records of their observations and wrote articles for journals by nature lovers.
After graduating from the 'Shottengimnazium' - from high school at a Benedictine monastery in Vienna, EF. hoping to join a scientific expedition. But, succumbing to the will of his father, he in 1905. enrolled in medical school at the University of Vienna. There, under the guidance of his uncle, the famous physiologist Sigmund Exner, he immersed himself in research related to the distribution of pigment in the visual cells of beetles, butterflies and shrimp. Soon, however, he left medicine, replacing it on the ethology - the science of animal behavior, the study of which he started at the Zoological Institute of Munich University, a recognized center of Experimental Biology. Conducting research under the guidance of Richard von Hertwig, S. interested in the perception of light and the effect of color changes in some fish under its influence. After returning to the University of Vienna, he continued his work, for which in 1910. received his doctorate in philosophy.
At that time it was thought that all fish and invertebrates are totally devoid of color vision. This opinion is defended Carl von Hess, director of the Munich Eye Clinic. F. disproved this theory with experiments in which individual minnow after training began differentially respond to different colors. T. to. Hess refused to accept the findings of AF obtained in experiments with minnows, he harshly criticized the views of the old scientist, who, as it seemed, tried to discredit his work. Later F. become more tolerant attitude to this incident, because thanks to this scientific dispute his research attracted the attention of other scientists.
As a Darwinist, F. considered unlikely that the insects were unable to distinguish colors. He suggested that the striking color combination of flowers emerged in the process of evolution precisely because it served as signals, attracting insects, which are in search of nectar was transferred pollen, ensuring their reproduction. Having universtitete office in Munich in 1912, he began to conduct experiments to confirm their hypothesis about the presence of color vision in bees. He was able to teach these insects to establish a link of food with a certain color. Accustomed to link food with the square of a certain color, the bees landed on this box and in the absence of food on it and change the position of the square on the squares of another color.
The First World War interrupted the study F. Because of poor eyesight, he was drafted into the army, but he worked in a military hospital near Vienna. In January 1919. F. returned to the Zoological Institute in Munich as an adjunct professor. Two years later he became an associate professor of the University of Rostock, and in 1923. received a professorship in Breslavskiy University (now z. Wroclaw, Poland). All these years he continued his study of bees. In the process of research, he proved that bees can distinguish up to a dozen different smells: they correctly chose the cardboard box, which attracted their floral aroma emanating from the saucer with sugar syrup. When the syrup was over, the bees ceased to fly into this box. But when the bee-intelligence officer to find a new source of food, as there immediately set off a large swarm of bees.
'It was clear - then write F. in his autobiography - that the community of bees possess excellent intelligence service, but I could not understand until the end, as it acted '. Spring 1919. F. conducted the following experiment: marking paint several working bees, he traced the behavior of bees, tasted food from the saucer with sugar syrup and returned to the hive. 'I could hardly believe his eyes - AF-wrote - when she performed a circle dance in the honey comb, what led to the rampage nearby with her bees, which are marked with paint, who immediately flew to the place of feeding ... It was, as I think the most important observation in my life, at least, having the most far-reaching consequences', - said O. For several years he worked assiduously to uncover the meaning of the dance of bees.
In 1925, Mr.. F. returned to the Zoological Institute, University of Munich, this time as a successor to Richard von Hertwig. After eight years under his supervision is building a new laboratory building, designed specifically for research purposes. After almost complete destruction of the institute during the Second World War, F. went to Bryunvinkl to continue their studies. In 1946, Mr.. He became a professor at the University of Graz, but 4 years later he returned to Munich rebuilding Zoological Institute, where he remained until the director resigns in 1958
Over the years, F. realized that the dance of bees is much more complicated than it initially seemed. He learned, . the bees pass each other information on the approximate direction of flight to a new food source, . distance it, . as well as the quantity of food in it with a series of carefully designed dance, . individual pa which contain relevant information and,
. If food is close, the bee performs the 'circle dance', if the distance to the source of food in excess of 85 m, a bee enjoys the 'wobbly' dance in the form of eight. F. also found that the angle of the dance performance of bees in relation to the vertical axis of the honeycomb corresponds to the angle formed by the food source for the sun. He also learned that even with variable cloudiness bees can find food, focusing on the plane of polarization of light from apertures of clear sky between the clouds.
F. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1973. together with two other ethologists Konrad Lorenz and Nicholas Tinbergen 'for his discoveries related to the creation and establishment of individual and group behavior'. 'The discoveries made by Nobel laureates of this year ... can ... seem not so important from the viewpoint of human physiology or medicine - said in a speech on the occasion of awarding Bц?rge Kronholm of the Karolinska Institute. - However, these findings served as a prerequisite for extensive research, the object of which also became mammals'. Besides, . added Kronholm, . of the winners may be essential to assess 'the impact of abnormal psychosocial situations on individuals', . - Such impacts, . said, . which 'may cause not only behavioral, . and serious somatic disease ', . like hypertension or myocardial infarction,
. F., which by that time turned 87 years old, was at the awards ceremony of his son Otto.
F. credited as the sudden opening of the 'sensory windows' through which the animals perceive the world: for example, bees use for this color and polarized light. According to experts in the field of animal behavior by Peter Marler and Donald R. Griffin, . 'revolutionary discovery was, . that with a flexible system of canonical differential gestures insect can transmit information to other individuals of the closed integrated set of insects on distant objects, . vital for the social group as a whole,
. In this behavioral continuity between animals and man reaches such a degree of integrity, which is made possible comparisons between the communicative links between animal and man speech '.
In 1917, Mr.. F. married Margaret Moore - a nurse and painter, who later illustrated published collections of his lectures, they had three daughters and a son. F. died June 12, 1982
Among the prizes F. - Magellan Award of the American Philosophical Society (1956), the Kalinga Prize, awarded by UNESCO (1959), Eugenio Bolzano Prize for Biology, awarded Bolzanovskim Fund (1963). He was a member of the Academies of Sciences in Munich, Vienna, GцІttingen, Uppsala, Stockholm and Washington (DC), as well as foreign member of the Royal Society of London.