Otto Frankel

Sir Otto Herzberg Frankel FRS FAA FRSNZ (4 November 1900, Vienna – 21 November 1998, Canberra) was an Austrian-born Australian geneticist. In the 1960s and 1970s he was among the first to warn of the dangers of plant biodiversity loss.

Otto Herzberg-Frankel was the third of four sons of a prominent and wealthy lawyer. Otto's paternal grandfather, a well-known author, added Herzberg from his mother's name to become Herzberg-Frankel. After his father's death, Otto dropped the hyphen.

Ludwig Herzberg-Frankel, Otto's father, was a highly successful barrister in Vienna. He was related to Lewis Namier, who played a significant role in Otto's career.

Max, Otto's oldest brother (1895–1983), qualified in law but after joining Otto in New Zealand in 1938 he became an accountant. Theo (1897–1986), who had to flee Vienna hurriedly in 1938, became a progressive paper manufacturer in Great Britain, establishing the Scottish Pulp and Paper Mills enterprise in the Scottish Highlands. Paul (1903–1992) also moved to Britain, from Poland in 1937. An economist by training, he founded Petroleum Economics Ltd. in 1955 and became a distinguished international authority on the oil industry.

In Otto's early years, his father employed a tutor for his sons as well as a French governess. From 1910 to 1918 Otto attended the Piaristen Staatsgymnasiums Wien VIII, where he met Karl Popper. Otto claimed to have had no education, as this was a classical rather than a modern school, with poor mathematics and next to no science but eight years of Latin and four of Greek. None of his teachers inspired him.

The end of school coincided with the end of World War I, when there was little chance of a young man without military service being admitted to the University of Vienna. However, under Otto's leadership, a group of young people took over a disused military laboratory, got a copy of the practical course work from the Chemical Institute of the University, worked through it together without any lectures and subsequently gained credit for the course.

Otto then went to University of Munich to be interviewed by the professor of chemistry there, Richard Willstätter. He was admitted to the university (1919–1920) to study chemistry, botany and physics. However, after three semesters he lost his enthusiasm for chemistry, preferring something more practical like agriculture.

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