Reflections on ornithologists I have known (Part 2)

The content of this paper was presented at the 1999 Annual General Meeting of the German Ornithologists Society held in Bayreuth as a sequel of the pr esentation given in 1997, which has been published (J. Ornithol. 139: 325-3 48, 1998). Basing his work on some further 15 personal histories of natural ists, the author is again investigating the impact of socio-political relat ionships on their scientific activities and the involvement of some of the scientists in politics. In addition to famous personalities from the middle of the 20th century, such as the Nobel Prize winner Konrad Lorenz, analyse s were also made in respect of some nineteenth century personalities and so me from the last decade of the twentieth. The author is of the opinion that a knowledge of history is important not only for future development in gen eral, but also for science, i. a. for ornithology.