Walter Gustav Url was a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Life Sciences of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...

who was notable for his work on

membranes A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...

plant physiology Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bi ...

, and scientific film.

Personal life

Walter Gustav Url FRMS was born on October 9, 1929, in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He completed Gymnasium in Diefenbachgasse and studied biology and geography at the

. He married Edith Zapletal, later a secondary school teacher in the Gymnasium Rahlgasse ( de), on December 28, 1955. They had two children: Elisabeth and Michael. Edith died after a long battle with illness in 2016, and Michael unexpectedly in 2018. He lived for most of his life in

Ottakring Ottakring () is the 16th District in the city of Vienna, Austria (german: 16. Bezirk, Ottakring). It is located west of the central districts, north of Penzing and south of Hernals. Ottakring has some heavily populated urban areas with many resid ...

in Vienna. Url died on April 10, 2021 at the age of 91.

Academic career

Url earned his Ph.D. in plant cell biology from the University of Vienna in 1952, studying the permeability of plasma membranes in plant cells under Karl Höfler ( de). After receiving his Ph.D., Url became an assistant in the university's Institute of Plant Physiology until earning his

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

for work on the radiation tolerance of plant cells in 1959, becoming

Docent The title of docent is conferred by some European universities to denote a specific academic appointment within a set structure of academic ranks at or below the full professor rank, similar to a British readership, a French " ''maître de conf ...

in the anatomy and physiology of plants. Url continued his career in 1968 with a postdoctoral fellowship at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

with a grant from the

Max Kade Dr. h.c. Max Kade (13 October 1882, Steinbach near Schwäbisch Hall, Württemberg, Germany – 15 July 1967, Davos, Switzerland) was an emigrant from Germany to New York City who became successful in the pharmaceutical industry. Kade was committed ...

foundation, in which he focused on the water permeability of the protoplasm of plant cells. He returned to Vienna to become an associate professor at the University of Vienna in 1970, establishing a working group in cell physiology and scientific film in the (now dissolved) Institute of Plant Physiology. He became a full professor for anatomy and physiology of plants with a specialization in teaching pharmacy students from 1983, under the Faculty of Life Sciences. He additionally helped establish the Institute of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Vienna. Url retired from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna in 1999 as Professor Emeritus, joining the Natural History Museum, Vienna as a fellow under director

Bernd Lötsch Bernd is a Low German short form of the given name Bernhard (English Bernard). List of persons with given name Bernd The following people share the name Bernd. *Bernd Brückler (born 1981), Austrian hockey player *Bernd Eichinger (1949–2011), G ...

( de). He helped establish the museum's "Mikrotheater", a long-running public exhibition of microscopic films.

Research and teaching

Url's scientific career focused on two major topics, which generally intertwined: plant cell physiology with a focus on membrane characteristics and plasmolysis, and the development of

microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...

, particularly microcinematography. He also valued field work as an important basis for further lab work, especially in his studies of algal flora. This work also spurred his interest in ecology and environmentalism. In his work on plant cell physiology, Url studied membrane permeability and the tolerance of plant cells to stress factors such as heavy metals and radiation. His research in this field was often motivated by and tied to his work in microscopy and advancing the field of microcinematography. Investigating the dynamic properties of living cells demanded higher resolution light microscopy to record cellular structures in motion, which had to that point mainly been visible in static electron microscope photographs. These included pioneering work with the ultraviolet microscope in 1964 & 1987 introduction of video techniques to improve microscope resolution allowing the observation of the

endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is, in essence, the transportation system of the eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. It is a type of organelle made up of two subunits – rough endoplasmic reticulum ( ...

and organelle structure in living plant cells. This development of film techniques for dynamic cell processes led to an interest in science education and communication. Url produced numerous movies covering cell structure and functions in living organisms for a student audience. This work was done in close collaboration with his colleague

Oswald Kiermayer Oswald may refer to: People *Oswald (given name), including a list of people with the name *Oswald (surname), including a list of people with the name Fictional characters *Oswald the Reeve, who tells a tale in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbur ...

from the

University of Salzburg The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university A public university or public college is a univ ...

as well as the support of Hans-Karl Galle of the

Institute for Scientific Film An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

( de) and Siegfried Hermann of the

Austrian Institute of Scientific Film Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example ...

. Several of the films won scientific awards, including a 1986 state award for outstanding achievement in audiovisual production and education from the Republic of Austria for a series of films on physiological processes in plant cells. His interest in education extended to ensuring the audiovisual microscopic knowledge he had was passed on to his students, and Url spent considerable time and effort on sharing it with future generations of scientists.

References

External links

University of Vienna CIUS Team Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Url, Walter G. 1929 births Scientists from Vienna University of Vienna alumni Academic staff of the University of Vienna Living people