Thomas Eisner | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 25, 1929 Berlin, Germany |
| Died | March 25, 2011 (aged 81) Ithaca, New York, U.S. |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Known for | Pioneeringchemical ecology |
| Awards | Newcomb Cleveland Prize(1967) Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement(1990) National Medal of Science(1994) John J. Carty Award(2008) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Insectchemical ecology |
| Institutions | Cornell University |
Thomas Eisner (June 25, 1929 – March 25, 2011) was a German-Americanentomologist and ecologist, known as the "father of chemical ecology."[1] He was a Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Chemical Ecology atCornell University, and director of the Cornell Institute for Research in Chemical Ecology (CIRCE). He was a world authority onanimal behavior, ecology, andevolution, and, together with his Cornell colleagueJerrold Meinwald, was one of the pioneers ofchemical ecology, the discipline dealing with the chemical interactions of organisms. He was author or co-author of some 400 scientific articles and seven books.
Thomas Eisner was born on June 25, 1929, in Berlin, Germany. His father, Hans Eisner, was a chemist of Jewish origin, and a coworker ofFritz Haber at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Electrochemistry in Berlin; he later held a chair for chemistry at Cornell. His mother, Margarete Heil-Eisner, was an artist. Escaping theNazi regime, the family moved toBarcelona and, following theSpanish Civil War, toUruguay. The Eisners came to the U.S. in 1947.[2]
Thomas Eisner became a naturalized American citizen, and applied toCornell University as an undergraduate, but was rejected. He received his B.S. and PhD degrees fromHarvard University, and joined Cornell'sentomology faculty in 1957. He married Maria Eisner, who was a member of his lab. In 1964, he helped found the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, where he worked until his death.
In addition to his academic work, he was a passionate nature photographer[3] andvideographer. His filmSecret Weapons won the Grand Award at theNew York Film Festival and was named Best Science Film by theBritish Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also an avid pianist and occasional conductor. Eisner died on March 25, 2011, ofParkinson's disease.[1]
He was an atheist.[4]
Eisner's main body of work was inchemical ecology, primarily studying thechemical defenses of insects againstpredation. Some of his most famous work was conducted on thebombardier beetle, which he discovered creates a chemical reaction within its body to shoot a boiling noxious liquid from a nozzle in its abdomen.[5]
A field biologist with working experience on four continents, he was also an active conservationist. He served on the board of directors of theNational Audubon Society, the National Scientific Council of the Nature Conservancy, and the World Resources Institute Council. He was a past president of theAmerican Society of Naturalists, and chairman of the Biology Section of theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science. He played a key role in initiating the Congressional Fellow Program in Washington DC, and in efforts to preserve wilderness areas in Florida and Texas.
Eisner was furthermore a member of theNational Academy of Sciences, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, and theAmerican Philosophical Society. He received numerous honors, including theTyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, theHarvard Centennial Medal, the 1994National Medal of Science[6] and theLewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science. He also held honorary degrees from universities inSweden, Germany,Switzerland and the United States, and was a foreign fellow of theRoyal Society. Eisner was additionally a member of theDeutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina andAcademia Europaea.
In 2008, Eisner was awarded theJohn J. Carty Award by theNational Academy of Sciences.[7]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)He had a notoriously mordant sense of humor: "I may not believe in God," he once said, "but I don't ring doorbells saying I'm a Seventh-Day Atheist"...
