Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke

Infobox Person
name = Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke


image_size = 300px
caption = Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke ca. 1980
birth_date = birth date|1914|6|13|mf=y
birth_place = Pomerania
death_date = death date and age|2000|11|21|1914|6|13|mf=y
death_place = Hamburg, Germany
occupation = zoologist, ornithologist, herpetologist
spouse = Maria Koepcke
children = Juliane Diller Köpcke

Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke (b. Pomerania, June 13, 1914, d. Hamburg, Germany, November 21, 2000) was a famous zoologist and ornithologist. He was married to another famous ornithologist, Maria Koepcke and was the father of mammalogist Juliane Diller Köpcke, who became famous as the sole survivor of the crash of LANSA Flight 508.cite web|url=http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/ON/v013n02/p0215-p0218.pdf|title=Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke Obituary|accessdate=2007-01-06]

cientific work in Peru

Koepcke studied at the University of Kiel, Germany, earning a doctorate in Natural Sciences in 1947. He then traveled to Peru where he started work at the Javier Prado Museum of Natural History in Lima, an institution affiliated with the National University of San Marcos.

Along with his wife Maria, whom he met at the University of Kiel and later married in Peru, he spent much of his life studying the Peruvian and South American fauna. He co-authored with Maria many scientific publications, mostly ornithological. His greatest individual academic accomplishment was the publication (in German) of the 1,684 page two volume opus entitled "Die Lebensformen: Grundlagen zu einer universell gültigen biologischen Theorie" (Life Forms: The basis for a universally valid biological theory), in 1971 and 1973. According to François Vuilleumier, curator of the Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History in New York: [cite web|url=http://www.amnh.org/science/divisions/vertzoo/bio.php?scientist=vuilleumier|title=François Vuilleumier Resume|accessdate=2007-01-06]

The number of topics covered in this monumental work (volume 1, pages 1–789; volume 2, pages 790–1,684) issimply astonishing, and includes the concept of adaptation, death of individuals and of species, homology, systematics, ecological specialization, teleology, convergences, social signalization, mimicry, sexuality, mating systems, and many others. Richly illustrated, this work draws its empirical examples from many forms of life, where birds, and Peruvian or South American birds especially, figure prominently.

Tragedy and miraculous survival

On Christmas Eve of 1971, his wife Maria and daughter Juliane (who was 17 years old at the time) were traveling from Lima to Pucallpa, both in Peru, on LANSA Flight 508 to join him for the holidays, when their Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop encountered a thunderstorm and was struck by lightning, exploding and crashing into the Amazon jungle.cite web|url=http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Aviation/Disasters/71-12-24(Lansa).asp |title=17-Year-Old Only Survivor in Peruvian Accident|author=Patrick Mondout|publisher=Super70s.com|accessdate=2007-01-07] Maria died in the crash, while Juliane, who fell 2 miles down to the jungle still strapped to her seat, was the only survivor of the 92 persons on board the flight. Despite sustaining a broken collar bone and an eye injury in the fall, Juliane was able to walk for 10 days in the dense jungle until reaching civilization. She later fully recovered from her injuries and completed her studies in Germany, and became a mammalogist specializing in bats.

Return to Germany

After returning from Peru to Germany, Koepcke lived in Hamburg, where he worked at the herpetology department and taught zoology at the Zoological Institute and Museum of the University of Hamburg. [cite web|url=http://www.panguana.de/Introduction/Panguana/panguana.html|title=Panguana|accessdate=2007-01-07]

References