Margaret Altmann

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.[1][2]

Margaret Altmann
Born1900
Berlin, Germany
Died1984
OccupationBiologist
Years active1970–1984

Early life and education

Margaret Altmann was born in Berlin, Germany.[1] 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.[3] 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.[4]

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.[3] 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.[5]

She was a twenty-year member of the American Society of Mammalogists and published work in the Journal of Mammalogy.[3] She was also a member of the Genetics Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[1]

Later life and legacy

In 1986, the University of Arizona held a symposium about ungulates in honor of Altmann.[6]

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
  1. Tiffany K. Wayne (2011). American Women of Science Since 1900: Essays A-H. Vol.1. ABC-CLIO. p. 190. ISBN 978-1-59884-158-9.
  2. P.P.G Bateson; Paul Patrick Gordon Bateson; P.H. Klopfer (31 January 1989). Perspectives in Ethology. Springer. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-306-42948-4.
  3. Joyce Harvey; Marilyn Ogilvie (27 July 2000). The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science: Pioneering Lives from Ancient Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century. Taylor & Francis. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-415-92038-4.
  4. "Margaret Altmann (1900-1984)" (PDF). Animal Behavior Society Newsletter. 31 (1): 15. February 1986.
  5. Larry R Squire (8 November 2008). The History of Neuroscience in Autobiography. Oxford University Press. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-19-970172-8.
  6. "Park History". About Us. Wolf Park. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
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