Bernhard Hassenstein

Bernhard Hassenstein (31 May 1922 – 16 April 2016) was a German biologist and behaviorist.

Bernhard Hassenstein was a student of behavioral physiologist Erich von Holst and one of the leading researchers in the fields of behavioral biology and bio-cybernetics. His scientific work includes substantial contributions to the understanding of motion perception in insects and color vision in humans.

From 1939 to 1949, Hassenstein studied biology, physics, and chemistry in Berlin, Göttingen, and Heidelberg. During his military service in 1943, he met Werner E. Reichardt, who eventually became his academic partner. In 1948, he worked as an assistant at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Biology in Wilhelmshaven. From 1954-1958, he worked at the Zoophysiological Institute of the University of Tübingen.

In 1958, Hassenstein worked with physicist Werner Reichardt and engineer Hans Wenking to found the world's first working group on cybernetics at the Max Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen. In 1960, he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the University of Freiburg.

Hassenstein retired in 1984. He reportedly died on 16 April 2016 in Freiburg, at the age of 93.

University of Freiburg Faculty of Biology

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