Friedrich Ruttner (15 May 1914 – 3 February 1998) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n SA-member,

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

member, SS-physician,

neurologist Neurology (from , "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the nervous system, which comprises the brain, the ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and bee expert. He became internationally known for his advances in honey bee breeding, instrumental insemination, classification of various subspecies and as a co-founder of Apidologie.

Biography

Ruttner was born in

Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

as the son of a

Limnologist Limnology ( ; ) is the study of inland aquatic ecosystems. It includes aspects of the biological, chemical, physical, and geological characteristics of fresh and saline, natural and man-made bodies of water. This includes the study of lakes, ...

, Franz Ruttner. He studied medicine at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, although in 1936 he was temporarily excluded from his studies because of illegal activities for

National Socialism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequ ...

(Austria was not annexed by the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

until 1939). He received his doctorate in 1938. From 1939 he was a member of the Erbbiologische Forschungsinstitut (Genetic / Hereditary Biology Research Institute) working under the

eugenicist Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetics, genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human Phenotype, phenotypes by ...

Hermann Boehm a Professor of

Racial Hygiene The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an anim ...

at the ''Führerschule der Deutschen Ärzteschaft'' (Leadership School of the German Medical Association) in Alt Rehse, under whose mentorship he would have been taught the genetics of "hereditary biology and racial hygiene" in the context of Nazism and Racial Hierarchy. Membership of the School was restricted to Nazi party members that showed "political reliability", education was focused not on medical training but on ideological training in line with the

racial policy of Nazi Germany The racial policy of Nazi Germany was a set of policies and laws implemented in Nazi Germany under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, based on pseudoscientific and racist doctrines asserting the superiority of the putative "Aryan race", which cl ...

with a view to achieving

racial purity The term racial hygiene was used to describe an approach to eugenics in the early 20th century, which found its most extensive implementation in Nazi Germany (Nazi eugenics). It was marked by efforts to avoid miscegenation, analogous to an animal ...

. As a former member of the

(Nazi Party), membership number 6360728, before and after the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a "German Question, Greater Germany") arose after t ...

, the SA (Brownshirts) and the SS, he was dismissed from university service in 1945 by order of the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

, due to their policy of

denazification Denazification () was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by removing those who had been Nazi Par ...

. The following year, together with his brother Hans he founded the Institute for Bee Science in

Lunz am See Lunz am See is a municipality in the district of Scheibbs, Lower Austria, Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states ...

in 1946, which soon became part of the Ministry of Agriculture. In 1948 he demonstrated the first proof of the multiple mating of the queen bee during the mating flight. During this time he studied zoology at the University of Vienna. Ruttner became Professor of zoology at the Department of Biology in 1965. Until his retirement in 1981, he also headed the Institute for Bee Science in

Oberursel Oberursel (Taunus) (, , in contrast to " Lower Ursel") is a town in Germany and part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. It is located to the north west of Frankfurt, in the Hochtaunuskreis county. It is the 13th largest town in Hesse. In ...

. This institute discovered the first

Varroa mites ''Varroa destructor'', the Varroa mite, is an ectoparasite, external parasitic mite that attacks and feeds on honey bees and is one of the most damaging honey bee pests in the world. A significant mite infestation leads to the death of a honey b ...

in Germany in 1976. Ruttner cultivated intensive research contacts with scientists and beekeepers from all over the world. Together with his French colleague Jean Louveaux, Ruttner founded the specialist journal ''Apidologie'' in 1970, today one of the most important bee science journals. Ruttner's breeding approaches and the introduction of instrumental insemination of the queen had a lasting influence on beekeeping. Ruttner wrote, among other works, the ''Natural History of Honeybees'' He further developed the method of

morphometry Morphometrics (from Ancient Greek, Greek μορΦή ''morphe'', "shape, form", and -μετρία ''metria'', "measurement") or morphometry refers to the quantitative analysis of ''form'', a concept that encompasses size and shape. Morphometric ...

in order to distinguish between different subspecies of

Apis mellifera The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for 'bee', and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', ...

. Their physical characteristics overlap to such an extent that they can only be distinguished by synchronous measurement and comparison of numerous metrics. In particular, measuring points on the wings and the angles between wing loaders are measured and offset against each other according to certain regulations. However, the morphometric differentiation of the subspecies is difficult and the assignment of many regional forms depends on the exact measuring method.Ayça Özkan Koca & İrfan Kandemir (2013): Comparison of two morphometric methods for discriminating honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations in Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology 37: 205-210. Ruttner died in 1998 in Lunz am See.

References

External links

''Friedrich Ruttner'', on ZOBODAT
in German {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruttner, Friedrich Physicians in the Nazi Party Waffen-SS personnel Nazi eugenics 20th-century Austrian zoologists Austrian beekeepers 1914 births 1998 deaths People from Eger University of Vienna alumni