Margaret Altmann
{{Short description|German-American biologist (1900–1984)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Margaret Altmann
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1900
| birth_place = Berlin, Germany
| death_date = 1984
| occupation = Biologist
| years_active = 1970–1984
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Margaret Altmann (1900–1984) was a German-American biologist focusing on animal husbandry and psychobiology. She was one of the first women to work in the psychobiology, ethology and animal husbandry fields, with a focus on livestock.{{cite book|author=Tiffany K. Wayne|title=American Women of Science Since 1900: Essays A-H. Vol.1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPGZJ_YuMwgC&pg=PA190|year=2011|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-59884-158-9|page=190}}{{cite book|author1=P.P.G Bateson|author2=Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson|author3=P.H. Klopfer|title=Perspectives in Ethology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6DUvdBTcy_IC&pg=PA102|date=31 January 1989|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-306-42948-4|page=102}}
Early life and education
Margaret Altmann was born in Berlin, German Empire. She worked in farm management. She attended the University of Bonn for rural economics. She received her PhD from Bonn in 1928. After graduation, she stayed in Germany and worked in the government farm industry, focusing on the breeding of dairy animals. In 1933, she relocated to the United States. She attended Cornell University.{{cite book|author1=Joyce Harvey|author2=Marilyn Ogilvie|author2-link=Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie|author-link=Joy Harvey|title=The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QmfyK0QtsRAC&pg=PA27|date=27 July 2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-92038-4|page=27}} In 1938, Altmann received her second PhD from Cornell, with a degree in animal breeding from the psychobiology department. In the same year she became a citizen of the United States.{{cite journal|title=Margaret Altmann (1900-1984)|journal=Animal Behavior Society Newsletter|date=February 1986|volume=31|issue=1|page=15|url=http://www.animalbehaviorsociety.org/web/newsletters/Feb%201986%20Vol.31%20No.1.pdf}}
Career
Altmann started working at the Hampton Institute, where she was associate professor, and then professor. She taught animal genetics and animal husbandry. Eventually, she started working on large wild mammals and relocated to Colorado. From 1948 until 1956 she lived in Colorado, working at a biological research center. During this time, she started studying psychobiology. She taught at Kenyon College. From 1959 until 1969 she taught at the University of Colorado. In 1969, she retired, and became professor emerita. She wrote papers about moose, elk and packs. Larry Squire worked under her while doing bison research in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Squire described Altmann as an "interesting character". While in Wyoming, she researched elk, riding horseback, and teaching others to ride, to follow packs.{{cite book|author=Larry R Squire|title=The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lRuQV9SWAaMC&pg=PA169|date=8 November 2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-970172-8|page=169}}
She was a twenty-year member of the American Society of Mammalogists and published work in the Journal of Mammalogy. She was also a member of the Genetics Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Later life and legacy
In 1986, the University of Arizona held a symposium about ungulates in honor of Altmann.{{cite web|title=Park History|url=http://wolfpark.org/about/park-history/|work=About Us|publisher=Wolf Park|accessdate=26 November 2013}}
Published works
- Altmann, Margaret. "A study of behavior in a horse-mule group." Sociometry. 14.4 (1951), pp. 351–354.
- Chiszar, D. and Wertheimer, M. (1988), Margaret Altmann: A rugged pioneer in rugged fields. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 24: 102–106. doi: 10.1002/1520-6696(198801)24:1<102::AID-JHBS2300240121>3.0.CO;2-O
References
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Category:20th-century German women scientists
Category:Scientists from Berlin
Category:Emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States
Category:University of Bonn alumni
Category:Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni
Category:Hampton University faculty
Category:Kenyon College faculty
Category:University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus faculty