ABSTRACT
It was in the 1930s, at the University of Leyden, and after the war, at Oxford, that Tinbergen established a reputation as one of the first ethologists, a pioneer of a new approach to the study of animal behaviour. In 1936, Lorenz came to Holland and invited Tinbergen back to Austria to spend a couple of months with him. There is an echo in Tinbergen's voice that suggests regard. But, until the war forced Lorenz into the German Army and Tinbergen into a hostage camp in Holland, they collaborated and corresponded enormously. Professor Hardy at Oxford had a job going; so Tinbergen came and settled, being allowed by the Dutch government to take only 35euros out of the country plus his family. Ethology suggested a number of important concepts like imprinting, displacement activities and innate releasing mechanisms. Niko Tinbergen's work on autism in children has involved the use of observational techniques taken from ethology and applied to human situations.
