Hans van Abeelen (20 November 1936 – 21 August 1998) was the first Dutch behaviour geneticist. He obtained his M.Sc from the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is th ...

and his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the Catholic University of Nijmegen in 1965, where he stayed for the rest of his career as "wetenschappelijk hoofdmedewerker". He was a founding member of the

Behavior Genetics Association The Behavior Genetics Association (BGA) is a learned society established in 1970 and which promotes research into the connections between heredity and behavior, both human and animal. Its members support education and training in behavior genetic ...

and was a member-at-large of its executive committee from 1984 till 1987. He also served on the

editorial board The editorial board is a group of experts, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take. Mass media At a newspaper, the editorial board usually consists of the editorial page editor, ...

of its journal, ''Behavior Genetics'', from its creation in 1971 to 1992. Van Abeelen took

early retirement Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

in 1991, but nevertheless became one of the founding members of the

International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society The International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society (IBANGS) is a learned society that was founded in 1996. The goal of IBANGS is "promote and facilitate the growth of research in the field of neural behavioral genetics". Profile Mission Th ...

. Over the span of his career, he published 64 articles and book chapters and edited a book, ''The Genetics of Behaviour'', which was an early overview of European behaviour genetics.

Notable publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abeelen, Hans van Behavior geneticists 1936 births 1998 deaths People from Enschede Dutch neuroscientists Dutch geneticists University of Groningen alumni Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen 20th-century Dutch zoologists