Bernhard Rensch facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bernhard Rensch
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Bernhard Rensch
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| Born | 21 January 1900 Thale, Germany
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| Died | 4 April 1990 (aged 90) |
| Nationality | German |
| Known for | Modern evolutionary synthesis |
| Awards | Darwin-Wallace Medal (Silver, 1958) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ornithology |
Bernhard Rensch (born January 21, 1900 – died April 4, 1990) was a German scientist. He studied how living things change over time, which is called evolution. He was also an expert on birds, known as an ornithologist. Rensch traveled to places like Indonesia and India for his research.
He started his science career believing in Lamarckian ideas, which suggested that traits gained during an animal's life could be passed on. But he later changed his mind and became a supporter of natural selection. He was one of the main people who helped create the "modern synthesis" in evolutionary biology. This important idea combines different parts of biology to explain how species evolve. Rensch helped make this idea popular in Germany.
Besides his work on how the environment affects the evolution of groups of animals living in different places (called geographically isolated populations), he also studied how evolution happens above the species level. This work was a big part of the modern synthesis. He also spent a lot of time studying animal behavior, known as ethology, and the deeper meaning of biological science. His education and scientific work were stopped twice because he served in the German military during both World War I and World War II.
About Bernhard Rensch
Rensch was born in Thale, Germany. As a young boy, he loved watching nature. He also found he was good at drawing and painting. He joined the German army from 1917 to 1920. While he was a prisoner in France, he kept observing nature.
After the war, he returned to Germany. He began studying the structure of feathers. Until the 1930s, Rensch did not agree with Darwin's ideas and favored Lamarck's views. Rensch also liked to think about the philosophy of science. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Halle in 1922.
In 1925, he became an assistant at the zoological museum of the University of Berlin. In 1927, he went on a trip to the Sunda Islands to study animals. He looked at how different groups of the same species (called subspecies) were spread out. He also studied how local environmental factors, like climate, affected their evolution.
In 1929, he published a book called Das Prinzip geographischer Rassenkreise und das Problem der Artbildung. This book talked about how geography and the formation of new species are connected. His work influenced another scientist named Ernst Mayr. Mayr was also an assistant at the museum from 1927 to 1930. Rensch's ideas helped develop the modern evolutionary synthesis.
In 1937, Rensch had to leave the museum. This was because he refused to join the Nazi party. He then took a job at a zoo in Münster. In 1940, he was called back for military service. However, he was discharged in 1942 for health reasons.
In 1947, he published another important book. It was later translated into English as Evolution above the Species Level. This book explained how the same ways that new species form could also explain the differences between larger groups of living things (called taxa). He introduced the idea of Artenkreis, which Ernst Mayr called a "superspecies." This is a group of closely related species that mostly live in different places. This book was a very important part of the modern synthesis.
That same year, Rensch became the head of the zoology department at the University of Münster. He also became the director of its zoological institute. In 1953, he went on another animal study trip to India. Later in his career, he focused a lot on animal behavior, learning, and memory. Rensch also wrote about human behavior. He suggested that our evolutionary connection to other living things could lead to sympathy. He wrote about his own life in 1979. He continued to be active in science until he died in 1990.
Biological Rules
Rensch looked for universal patterns in biology. These are rules that apply to many different living things. He was the one who named Allen's Rule and Gloger's Rule. In 1950, he suggested a rule that is now called Rensch's rule.
Rensch's rule is about how body size differs between males and females of a species. This is called sexual size dimorphism. The rule says that if males are usually larger than females, the size difference between them tends to get bigger as the average body size of the species increases. But if females are usually larger than males, the size difference tends to get smaller as the average body size increases.
Awards and Recognition
In 1958, he received the important Darwin–Wallace Medal from the Linnean Society of London.
Since 2004, a group in Germany called the Society for Biological Systematics (GfBS) has given out the Bernhard Rensch prize. This award is for young scientists who have done great work in studying how living things are classified and how diverse life is.
An Indonesian lizard species, Cryptoblepharus renschi, was named after him to honor his work.
Works
This is a list of some of the books Bernhard Rensch wrote. Some of them were translated into English.
- (1930) Eine biologische Reise nach den kleinen Sunda-Inseln. Berlin: Bornträger
- (1947) Evolution above the Species Level. London: Methuen. (German original 1947; 3rd enlarged ed. 1972.)
- (1971) Biophilosophy. New York: Columbia University Press. (German original 1968.)
- (1972) Homo sapiens: From Man to Demigod. London: Methuen. (German original 1959.)
- (1973) Gedächtnis, Begriffsbildung und Planhandlungen bei Tieren. Berlin: Parey.
- (1979) Lebensweg eines Biologen in einem turbulenten Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: Fischer.
- (1979) Gesetzlichkeit, psychophysischer Zusammenhang, Willensfreiheit und Ethik. Berlin: Duncker and Humblot.
- (1984) Psychologische Grundlagen der Wertung bildender Kunst. Essen: Die blaue Eule.
- (1985) Biophilosophical Implications of Inorganic and Organismic Evolution. Essen: Die blaue Eule.
See also
In Spanish: Bernhard Rensch para niños
