Karl Von Frisch - Life

Life

Karl von Frisch was the son of the surgeon and urologist Anton Ritter von Frisch (1849-1917) and his wife Marie, née Exner. He was the youngest of four sons, all of whom became university professors. He studied in Vienna under Hans Leo Przibram and in Munich under Richard von Hertwig, initially in the field of medicine but later turning to the natural sciences. He received his doctorate in 1910 and in the same year started work as an assistant in the zoology department of Munich University. In 1912 he became a lecturer in zoology and comparative anatomy there; and in 1919 was promoted to a professorship. In 1921 he went to Rostock University as a professor of zoology and director of an institute. In 1923 he accepted the offer of a chair at Breslau University, returning in 1925 to Munich University, where he became the head of the institute of zoology. After that institute was destroyed in World War II, he went to the University of Graz in 1946, remaining there until 1950 when he returned to the Munich institute after it was reopened. He retired in 1958 but continued his research. Karl von Frisch married Margarete, née Mohr. Their son, Otto von Frisch, was director of the Braunschweig natural history museum between 1977 and 1995.