Lorenz wins Nobel Prize

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33355, 13 October 1973, Page 15

Lorenz wins Nobel Prize

<N.Z P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) STOCKHOLM, October 12. The first of the 1973 Nobel Prizes was awarded today to three scientists who studied the birds and the bees to rediscover clues to man’s sexual behaviour. The award for physiology ior medicine was awarded jointly to two Austrians,! Professors Karl Von Frisch and Konrad Lorenz, and Professor Nikolaas Tinbergen, a Dutch professor at Oxford. The Karolinska Institute of Sweden, in its citation, said that the three scientists had revitalised the study of animal behaviour and show-i

ed how early experiences could determine the life patterns of both animals and man. Professor Von Frisch studied the strange language of the bees and discovered how, by waggling dance movements, they showed other bees where honey was. The quicker the waggling movements, the closer the honey lay, the Austrian professor discovered. BIRD BEHAVIOUR Professor Lorenz and Professor Tinbergen both worked chiefly in the field of bird behaviour. Lorenz showed how an animal’s sexual attitudes later in life could be determined by early experiences. Tinbergen studied the cries of seagulls in experiments which led to important findings about courtship and mating procedures. The three researchers

were instrumental in founding the science of comparative study of behaviour,' the citation said. MAMMAL RESEARCH Their work on insects,': fishes, and birds had stimulated comprehensive re-( search on mammals, show-! ing how stimuli in early life could determine later behav-i iour. Man was equipped with a number of fixed action pat-! terns. “This holds true for the smile of the infant and for the behaviour of a mother to her newborn child.” the citation said. | Investigations into primate ’behaviour had shown what : disastrous consequences’ ! could occur if an infant grew up in isolation without any contact with its mother and other family members. Males who have grown up under these conditions will be incapable of copulating

and females will not take; care of their young, thei scientists discovered. Dis-; turbances of the social or-1 ganisation of an animal; society could also lead to abnormal behaviour and somatic diseases such as hyjpertension and heart trouble, land over-crowding could! I lead to aggressive and destructive behaviour in both (animals and men. i The prize, split equally, I will be presented by King 'Carl Gustaf, along with other awards for literature, chemistry and physics next month. Professor Lorenz said that the award of the Nobel Prize, to scientists studying behav-, ioural patterns was a “big: boost” for a still young and suspect branch of research. Professor Von Frisch said that he would use the money to finance his con tin-! uing research.