Friedrich Simon Bodenheimer or Shimon Fritz Bodenheimer ( he, שמעון פריץ בודנהיימר; 6 June 1897 – 4 October 1959) was a German-born Israeli

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

. He wrote two major works on the

history of biology The history of biology traces the study of the living world from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of ''biology'' as a single coherent field arose in the 19th century, the biological sciences emerged from traditions of medicine a ...

and is considered the founder of entomology in Israel.

Early life

Friedrich, Frederick, or Fritz was born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

to a wealthy Jewish family: his father,

Max Bodenheimer Max Isidor Bodenheimer ( he, מקס בודנהיימר; 12 March 1865 in Stuttgart – 19 July, 1940 in Jerusalem) was a lawyer and one of the main figures in German Zionism. An associate of Theodor Herzl, he was the first president of the Zioni ...

, was a prominent lawyer. He was educated in Greek, Latin, literature, arts, mathematics, natural history, and calligraphy. At 17 he wrote a study of

Sappho Sappho (; el, Σαπφώ ''Sapphō'' ; Aeolic Greek ''Psápphō''; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from Eresos or Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho is known for her Greek lyric, lyric poetry, written to be sung while ...

. In 1914 he joined the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...

to study medicine but was interrupted by World War I where he served on the Eastern Front. He was influenced into entomology after coming across the works of Karl Escherich. He went to the

University of Bonn The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...

for his

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

. on ''

Tipula ''Tipula'' is a very large insect genus in the fly family Tipulidae (crane flies). The members of this genus are sometimes collectively called common crane flies. ''Tipula'' contains over 2,000 species located throughout the world. Like all cra ...

'' under

Richard Hesse Richard Hesse (20 February 1868 in Nordhausen – 28 December 1944 in Berlin) was a German zoologist and ecologist. Hesse took his PhD in 1892 from the University of Tübingen and was subsequently appointed lecturer, later extraordinary professor ...

Israel

After experiencing anti-Semitism in Russia and Germany, Bodenheimer decided to move to

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

in 1922. He studied the

Coccoidea Scale insects are small insects of the Order (biology), order Hemiptera, suborder Sternorrhyncha. Of dramatically variable appearance and extreme sexual dimorphism, they comprise the infraorder Coccomorpha which is considered a more convenient g ...

in Italy for six months and worked with

Filippo Silvestri Filippo Silvestri (22 June 1873 – 10 June 1949) was an Italian entomologist. He specialised in world Protura, Thysanura, Diplura and Isoptera, but also worked on Hymenoptera, Myriapoda and Italian Diptera. He is also noted for describing an ...

and

Guido Grandi image:Guidograndi.jpg, Guido Grandi Dom (title), Dom Guido Grandi, Camaldolese, O.S.B. Cam. (1 October 1671 – 4 July 1742) was an Italian monk, priest, philosopher, theologian, mathematician, and engineer. Life Grandi was born on 1 October ...

before moving to Palestine, and joined the new agricultural experimental station near

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. When the

Hebrew University The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

opened in 1918, he was appointed head of the Institute of Zoology and Entomology. In 1923 he married Rachel, daughter of a Russian Zionist

Menahem Ussishkin Menachem Ussishkin (russian: Авраам Менахем Мендл Усышкин ''Avraham Menachem Mendel Ussishkin'', he, מנחם אוסישקין) (August 14, 1863 – October 2, 1941) was a Russian-born Zionist leader and head of the J ...

, and along with her examined pre- Linnean entomological works and wrote a history of entomology. In 1927 he researched

Tamarisk The genus ''Tamarix'' (tamarisk, salt cedar, taray) is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tam ...

manna Manna ( he, מָן, mān, ; ar, اَلْمَنُّ; sometimes or archaically spelled mana) is, according to the Bible, an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period follow ...

in the Sinai desert, a possible source for the Biblical version, produced from insect honeydew. In 1936, Bodenheimer published ''The Biological Background of the Human Population Theory'' based on university lectures he gave in Tel Aviv. In his career as a professor of zoology over the next 25 years, he wrote more than 420 works. Three of his major works include ''Insects as Human Food'' (1951), ''The History of Biology, An Introduction'' (1958) and ''Animal and Man in Bible Lands'' (1956). His ''Materialien zur Geschichte der Entomologie bis Linné'' ("Materials for the History of Entomology until Linne") was published by

Wilhelm Junk Wilhelm Junk (3 February 1866, Prague – 3 December 1942, The Hague) was a noted Czech antiquarian bookseller in the field of natural history, and an entomologist. Wilhelm Junk established his book dealership "Antiquariaat Junk", in 1899 in B ...

in Berlin and copies of the book were burned by the Nazis. His manuscript on ''Citrus Entomology'' was saved and published after the war. He published an autobiography ''A Biologist in Israel'' in 1959. In the same year, he died in London from complications following an eye operation.

Awards

In 1954, Bodenheimer was awarded the

Israel Prize The Israel Prize ( he, פרס ישראל; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History The Israel Prize is awarded annually, on Israeli Independence Day, in a state cer ...

, in

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodenheimer, Shimon Fritz 1897 births 1959 deaths Hebrew University of Jerusalem faculty Israel Prize in agriculture recipients Israeli biologists Israeli entomologists 19th-century German Jews German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Israeli zoologists Scientists from Cologne University of Bonn alumni 20th-century German zoologists