Günter Tembrock (7 June 1918 – 26 January 2011) was an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

zoologist who pioneered the field of

bioacoustics Bioacoustics is a cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually it refers to the investigation of sound production, dispersion and reception in animals (including humans). This involves neurophysiological and anatomic ...

and biorhythms. He studied vocal communication in red foxes and birds. He was also a science popularizer and presented a television series. Born in Berlin, he studied biology at the

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (german: link=no, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick Willi ...

(then Friedrich-Wilhelm University) in 1937 and completed his doctoral work in 1941 on the biology of the carabid beetle '' Carabus ullrichi''. He then became a lecturer at the university and became an assistant professor in 1952. He established a facility for the study of animal behaviour in 1948 in the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

. His early scientific peers included

Oskar Heinroth Oskar Heinroth (1 March 1871 – 31 May 1945) was a German biologist who was one of the first to apply the methods of comparative morphology to animal behavior, and was thus one of the founders of ethology. He worked, largely isolated from mo ...

Werner Quenstedt Werner may refer to: People * Werner (name), origin of the name and people with this name as surname and given name Fictional characters * Werner (comics), a German comic book character * Werner Von Croy, a fictional character in the ''Tomb Ra ...

and

Heinrich Kuntzen Heinrich may refer to: People * Heinrich (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Heinrich (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) *Hetty (given name), a given name (including a list of p ...

and at university he was influenced by Werner Ulrich and Konrad Herter. During the war years he escaped conscription using the fact that he suffered a lung infection that he got during the compulsory Arbeitsdienst. He started recording sounds from around 1951 and established an archive of animal sounds which holds 120000 recordings which became part of the Berlin natural history museum in 1995. He mentored nearly a hundred doctoral students. His major publications included a recording of the calls of birds of central Europe and a textbook on behaviour. As a science popularizer he presented the television series "Professor Tembrocks Rendezvous mit Tieren" ("Professor Tembrock's rendezvous with animals", 36 episodes from 1984 to 1991).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tembrock, Gunter 20th-century German zoologists Members of the German Academy of Sciences at Berlin 1918 births 2011 deaths Reich Labour Service members