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Social Science Information
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Niko Tinbergen's life and work: a new approach to biology

Iver Mysterud

English

The life and work of the eminent ethologist and Nobel laureate Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907—1988) played an essential role in the introduction of a new approach that is transforming the scientific understanding of animal behaviour, human nature and evolution. This article focuses on an extremely well-written biography of him, Niko's Nature, by Hans Kruuk, one of Tinbergen's former students. Niko's Nature is more than a biography: it is a presentation and an evaluation of the main lines of European ethology and behaviour research in the 20th century up to the 1980s. Tinbergen suffered from depression most of his adult life, and if he had been a child today, he probably would have been diagnosed as hyperactive (ADHD). Tinbergen fits into a pattern of lifelong fatty-acid deficiency. I also discuss other possible causes of his problems (like protein intolerance, vitamin deficiency, genetics and novel environmental factors) and speculate how Tinbergen would have approached such issues if he were alive today.

French

La vie et l’oeuvre de Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907–1988), éthologue éminent et Prix Nobel, ont été essentielles pour l’apparition d’une approche nouvelle dans la compréhension scientifique du comportement animal, de la nature humaine et de l’évolution. Ce texte commente une biographie de Tinbergen écrite par l’un de ses anciens étudiants Hans Kruuk, Niko’s Nature. Niko’s Nature est plus qu’une simple biographie, il s’agit en fait d’une présentation et d’une évaluation des principaux courants de l’éthologie et de la recherche comportementale en Europe au 20ème siècle, jusqu’aux années 1980. Durant toute sa vie d’adulte, Tinbergen a souffert de dépression et s’il avait été enfant de nos jours, il aurait probablement été diagnostiqué comme enfant hyperactif (THADA). Tinbergen semble correspondre à un schéma de déficience durable en acides gras. L’auteur évoque aussi d’autres pistes explicatives (comme l’intolérance aux protéines, la déficience en vitamines, la génétique, l’apparition de nouveaux facteurs environnementaux) et s’interroge sur la façon dont Tinbergen aurait approché l’étude de ces questions s’il était encore vivant.

Key Words: Key words. ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) • Animal behaviour • Depression • Ethology • Fatty-acid deficiency • Hans Kruuk • Human behaviour • Human ethology • Niko Tinbergen • Nobel Prize • Nutrition

Social Science Information, Vol. 46, No. 3, 543-553 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0539018407079729
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