Einstein, von Frisch and the honeybee: a historical letter comes to light

Abstract

The work of the Nobel Laureate Karl von Frisch, the founder of this journal, was seminal in many ways. He established the honeybee as a key animal model for experimental behavioural studies on sensory perception, learning and memory, and first correctly interpreted its famous dance communication. Here, we report on a previously unknown letter by the Physicist and Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein that was written in October 1949. It briefly addresses the work of von Frisch and also queries how understanding animal perception and navigation may lead to innovations in physics. We discuss records proving that Einstein and von Frisch met in April 1949 when von Frisch visited the USA to present a lecture on bees at Princeton University. In the historical context of Einstein’s theories and thought experiments, we discuss some more recent discoveries of animal sensory capabilities alien to us humans and potentially valuable for bio-inspired design improvements. We also address the orientation of animals like migratory birds mentioned by Einstein 70 years ago, which pushes the boundaries of our understanding nature, both its biology and physics.

Contact chemoreception, magnetic maps, thermoregulation by a superorganism, and, thanks to Einstein, an all-time record: the Editors’ and Readers’ Choice Awards 2023

“…Approximately one million searches per month are carried out on Google using the term 'Albert Einstein', whereas over the same time typically about 2000 searches are conducted related to 'Karl von Frisch' (data based on an analysis performed by using Google Trends Supercharged-Glimpse on December 6, 2022). Springer Nature had informed the media about the Dyer et al (2021) paper shortly before its publication in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A. This press release resulted in global reporting by dozens of news outlets, and the mentions in hundreds of tweets and blogs, of the discovery of a previously unknown letter written by Albert Einstein-a story that prompted, in turn, widespread access of the article published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology A.…”

A Critical Review of Ground Based Observations of Earthquake Precursors

“…In the letter of 1949, recently published Dyer et al (2021), in reference to the work of Karl von Frisch (Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1973) and the sensory perception of animals, A. Einstein wrote "It is conceivable that the investigation of the behaviour of migratory birds and homing pigeons may one day lead to the understanding of some physical process that is not yet known". A few words that show an insight into animal ethology and physiology that preceded by more than half a century the investigations and discoveries of our years about some animals capabilities (Wu and Dickman, 2012;Lambert et al, 2013;Mouritsen, 2018).…”

Biomimetic Polarized Light Navigation Sensor: A Review

“…Polarized light navigation is a new autonomous navigation method developed by imitating the eye perception structure of insects such as sand ants [18,19], locusts [20], cuttlefish [21], bees [22], and North American monarch butterflies [23] that navigate by detecting polarized light in the sky. Bionic polarized light navigation is an autonomous navigation technology that uses a stable sky polarization distribution mode as the signal source, and it has the advantages of strong autonomy, strong anti-interference ability, and no error accumulation over time [24].…”