Claim profile

Konrad Lorenz

Austrian zoologist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1973 (1903–1989)

  • Fame64.0
  • Momentum0.2
  • Austria rank#73
Source-basedFalling
  • Fame64.0
  • Momentum0.2
  • Austria rank#73
  • Scientists rank#195
  • Wikipedia19.7K
Lived 1903–1989, aged 86Austria
Austria flagAustriaScientistsScientist
  • Wikipedia
    80 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Rank in Austria
    #73
    Scientists
  • Era
    1903–1989
    Aged 86
  • Known for
    Balz und Paarbildung b…
    1952
Summary
Updated 2026-06-21

He made goslings follow him around like a parent, then turned that image into a science. Lorenz showed that behavior isn't all learned — some of it locks in at first sight, no questions asked.

Biography

About

Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was born 7 November 1903 in Austria and trained as a zoologist with a focus on birds. Working with greylag geese and jackdaws, he studied imprinting — the process by which certain hatchlings bond instinctively to the first moving thing they see — and though he didn't discover it, his descriptions made it widely known. In 1936 he met Nikolaas Tinbergen, and together they built ethology into its own branch of biology. World War II pulled him into the German Army as a medic; in 1944 he was captured on the Eastern Front and spent four years as a prisoner in Soviet Armenia,…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz
said
The same individual geese on which we conducted these experiments, first aroused my interest in the process of domestication.
— Konrad Lorenz Biographical, The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1973.
Konrad Lorenz
said
The competition between human beings destroys with cold and diabolic brutality....
— pp 45-47
Konrad Lorenz
said
It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.
— Trans. M. Latzke (1966), p. 8
Konrad Lorenz
said
All too willingly man sees himself as the centre of the universe, as something not belonging to the rest of nature but standing apart as a different and higher being.
— Ch. XII : On the Virtue of Scientific Humility
Konrad Lorenz
said
We are the highest achievement reached so far by the great constructors of evolution. We are their "latest" but certainly not their last word.
— Ch. XII : On the Virtue of Scientific Humility
via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA
Where to find them

Platforms

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Falling
64.0
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum0.2
Historical24.7
Now attention13.8
Source confidence65.0
Completeness75.0
Global rank
—
Country rank
#73
Category rank
#195
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence