Walter Landauer (15 July 1896 – February 1978) was a German-American animal geneticist, who was interested particularly in chicken.
Life
Walter Landauer was born 1896 in Mannheim, Germany, to S. Friedrich and Charlotte Ziegler Landauer.
His father was a provincial court judge. He graduated with
Abitur
''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...
from the Reform-Gymnasium, Goethe School. In line with his pacifist ideals, he volunteered as a Red Cross nurse during WWI.
He studied zoology at the
Goethe University Frankfurt
Goethe University (german: link=no, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main) is a university located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It was founded in 1914 as a citizens' university, which means it was founded and funded by the wealt ...
and in 1922, he graduated from the
University of Heidelberg
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Heidelberg University, officially the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, (german: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; la, Universitas Ruperto Carola Heidelbergensis) is a public research university in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, ...
. From 1922 to 1924 he studied under Curt Herbst, a scientist in the study of embryonic induction, investigating the effect of ammonia on the heredity of
Echinoderm
An echinoderm () is any member of the phylum Echinodermata (). The adults are recognisable by their (usually five-point) radial symmetry, and include starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as the sea ...
hybrids as Zoology Instructor at Heidelberg.
In 1924 he emigrated to the United States when Leslie Clarence Dunn offered him a 10-month position at the University of Connecticut at the Experiment Station. There he studied poultry defects, like rumplessness and
chondrodystrophy
Chondrodystrophy (literally, "cartilage maldevelopment") refers to a skeletal disorder caused by one of myriad genetic mutations that can affect the development of cartilage. As a very general term, it is only used in the medical literature when ...
in chicken embryos. He founded the department of animal genetics. From 1928 until his retirement, he was a professor in the department of animal genetics. In 1935 he signed the
eugenics manifesto
Eugenics manifesto was the name given to an article supporting eugenics, published in 1939 in the journal ''Nature'', entitled ''Social Biology and Population Improvement''.
Landauer was married to Naomi E. Beck (1939). He was naturalized in 1940. In 1964, he married Elly Trude Kiewe. He died in February 1978.