Tinbergen, Nikolaas (1907-1988), a Dutch-born zoologist, studied how the behavior of animals is adapted to their environment. He also investigated the evolution of animal behavior over time by comparing behavior patterns in various species. Tinbergen shared the 1973 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Austrian naturalists Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch. They received the award for their studies of animal behavior.
Tinbergen worked with birds, butterflies, fish, wasps, and other animals in their natural surroundings. His best-known research concerns the social behavior of gulls. Tinbergen also applied ideas about animal behavior to the behavior of children suffering from a developmental disorder called autism.
Tinbergen, the brother of economist Jan Tinbergen, was born on April 15, 1907, in The Hague. He earned a doctorate from Leiden University in 1932. Tinbergen served on the faculty of Oxford University in England from 1949 until his death. His books include The Herring Gull’s World (1953) and The Animal in Its World (1972, 1973). He was co-author of Autistic Children: New Hope for a Cure (1983). Tinbergen died on Dec. 21, 1988.
