Thomas Eisner

Thomas Eisner (June 25, 1929 – March 25, 2011) was a German-American entomologist and ecologist, known as the "father of chemical ecology.

His father, Hans Eisner, was a chemist of Jewish origin, and a coworker of Fritz Haber at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Electrochemistry in Berlin; he later held a chair for chemistry at Cornell.

[2] Thomas Eisner became a naturalized American citizen, and applied to Cornell University as an undergraduate, but was rejected.

Some of his most famous work was conducted on the bombardier beetle, which he discovered creates a chemical reaction within its body to shoot a boiling noxious liquid from a nozzle in its abdomen.

He played a key role in initiating the Congressional Fellow Program in Washington DC, and in efforts to preserve wilderness areas in Florida and Texas.

He also held honorary degrees from universities in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and the United States, and was a foreign fellow of the Royal Society.