Curt Kosswig

Dr. Curt Kosswig (sometimes spelled "Koßwig") (born October 30, 1903, in Berlin; died March 29, 1982, in Hamburg) was a German zoologist and geneticist who spent most of his career at the University of Istanbul (1937–1955) and Hamburg University (1955–1969). Curt Kosswig is known as the Father of Turkish Zoology.

Curt Kosswig was born in Berlin and graduated from Berlin's Schöneberg Hohenzollern School (Hohenzollernschule), graduating in 1922. Afterwards, he attended the University of Berlin studying Natural Sciences, Zoology, and Genetics, where he completed his PhD in 1927.

In 1930, he married his wife Leonore (1904–1973) who was also a biologist. They would become acclaimed as a husband and wife research team in Turkey. They had two sons, the older of whom is named Kurt Kosswig (Kurt with a with a 'K' rather than his father's 'C') who became a chemist.

Curt Kosswig was a lifetime academic and scholar, widely published and well-respected within a wide range of fields but primarily zoology. Among his important scientific publications were advances in the understanding of sex-determination systems, carcinogenesis, constructive and regressive evolution, genetics of house pets, zoological geography, and species classification.

His research interests and fields of study widened considerably once he arrived in Turkey and was able to found an entire department from the ground up.

Completing his Bachelor's degree at the University of Berlin, in the mid-1920s began to study for a PhD in genetics under Professor Erwin Bauer.

Kosswig's published his first academic paper in 1925 in the German Journal for the Study of Animal Breeding and Hereditary Science (German: Zeitschrift für Tierzüchtung und Züchtungsbiologie). He was only 21 years old upon publication of his first paper. Another of his papers was accepted for publication in 1926.

Curt Kosswig was awarded a doctorate (PhD) in genetics on April 1, 1927, at age 23. In this year, he published his doctoral research work as The Gene in Foreign Genotypes (German: Das Gen in fremder Erbmasse). He had conducted experiments with cyprinodonts, which were groundbreaking in the field of genetics, which "anticipated the concept we now know as gene transfer in carcinogenesis."

...
Wikipedia