Matija Gogala (born December 11, 1937) is a Slovene

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

, working mainly in the fields of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

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 neurophysiology, neurophysiological ...

physiology Physiology (; ) is the science, scientific study of function (biology), functions and mechanism (biology), mechanisms in a life, living system. As a branches of science, subdiscipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ syst ...

, and

taxonomy image:Hierarchical clustering diagram.png, 280px, Generalized scheme of taxonomy Taxonomy is a practice and science concerned with classification or categorization. Typically, there are two parts to it: the development of an underlying scheme o ...

. He studied

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

at the

University of Ljubljana The University of Ljubljana (, , ), abbreviated UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 38,000 enrolled students. The university has 23 faculties and three art academies with approximately 4,000 teaching and re ...

where he graduated in 1960 and became an assistant at the Department of biology (Biotechnical faculty). He received his doctorate in 1964. Later, he became a

docent The term "docent" is derived from the Latin word , which is the third-person plural present active indicative of ('to teach, to lecture'). Becoming a docent is often referred to as habilitation or doctor of science and is an academic qualifi ...

at the department and began teaching animal physiology. He obtained full

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

ship in 1981. In the meantime, he worked at the National Institute of Biology in Ljubljana, where he served as a director between 1976 and 1979. In 1987, he began working at

Slovenian Museum of Natural History The Slovenian Museum of Natural History (, ) is a Slovenian national museum with natural history, scientific, and educational contents. It is the oldest cultural and scientific Slovenian institution. The museum features national, European, and w ...

and served also as its director between 1992 and 2001. In 1991, he became an associate, and in 1999 a full member of the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy. Cultural significance Establis ...

, currently serving as its vice president. Gogala is also a member of several international scientific committees and boards and the president of the

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around th ...

board for Slovenia. His son, Andrej Gogala, is also an entomologist.

Scientific work

Gogala's work focuses mainly on

and

behaviour Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...

of different insect groups. At the University of Ljubljana, he researched seasonal

pigmentation A pigment is a powder used to add or alter color or change visual appearance. Pigments are completely or nearly insoluble and chemically unreactive in water or another medium; in contrast, dyes are colored substances which are soluble or go in ...

and physiology of insect

sensory organ A sense is a biological system used by an organism for sensation, the process of gathering information about the surroundings through the detection of stimuli. Although, in some cultures, five human senses were traditionally identified as su ...

s. After that, he began working on vibrational communication of bugs, contributing pioneering work in the field of

biotremology Biotremology is the study of production, dispersion and reception of mechanical vibrations by organisms, and their effect on behavior. This involves neurophysiology, neurophysiological and anatomy, anatomical basis of vibration production and detec ...

. His current work focuses on sound production in

cicada The cicadas () are a superfamily, the Cicadoidea, of insects in the order Hemiptera (true bugs). They are in the suborder Auchenorrhyncha, along with smaller jumping bugs such as leafhoppers and froghoppers. The superfamily is divided into two ...

s and its use in the group's taxonomy.

References

Gogala, Matija
Biography at the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. Accessed on 2009-02-24.

Biography at the Slovenian Museum of Natural History. Accessed on 2009-02-24.

External links

Personal bibliography
in Slovene bibliographical system (COBISS) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gogala, Matija 1937 births Living people Slovenian entomologists University of Ljubljana alumni Members of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts Members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts Academic staff of the University of Ljubljana Scientists from Ljubljana