Zoologist Volker Storch Named Senior Professor at Universität Heidelberg
11 March 2010
The internationally renowned zoologist Prof. Dr. Volker Storch has been appointed Senior Professor by the Rector of Heidelberg University, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Eitel. This honorary title is bestowed on emeritus professors who have distinguished themselves as superior researchers and academic teachers and have also demonstrated a strong commitment to the work of the university as a whole. Professor Storch accepted a professorship at Heidelberg University in 1979 and held the chair of the department of animal morphology and ecology until his retirement in 2009.
Volker Storch (b. 1943) studied biology and chemistry in Kiel, where he received his doctorate in 1968 with a dissertation in the field of zoology. His Habilitation followed in 1971 for a study on invertebrates. Before coming to Heidelberg, Volker Storch was stand-in professor in Hamburg from 1973 to 1976 and visiting professor in the Philippines in 1978. Research sojourns abroad include South East Asia, the United States, Australia and the Antarctic, among others.
One of Storch’s main interests is comparative and experimental research on ultrastructure, notably the impact of environmental influences on cells. He is co-author of several text books, which have been translated into seven languages. Since the 2001/2002 winter term, Dr. Storch has organised the highly regarded Sunday matinees at the university, where speakers from various disciplines lay bare the mysteries of biology to lay audiences. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Greifswald University.
The appointment of Senior Professors enables Heidelberg University to continue to draw actively on the rich fund of experience amassed by its emeritus professors. Professor Storch will not only continue to arrange the Sunday matinees but will also be organising excursions for students in the coming summer term.
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