Wolfgang Geiger (17 July 1921 - 3 July 2000)

Wolfgang Geiger died on the 3rd July 2000, at the age of 79. He was born on July 17th 1921 in Biel; his mother died at his birth. His childhood was spent with his father, a well-known artist, partly in Ligerz, on Lake Biel, and partly in Porto Ronco in Ticino, on Lago Maggiore. After high school in Biel, he began his University studies, first at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, then in Basel, where he studied under Professor A. Portmann. During his PhD a grant from the Janggen-Pöhn foundation enabled him to work for some months at the Institut des Pêches maritimes du Maroc, in Casablanca, with Dr. J .Furnestin. In 1953 he completed his PhD on teleost fish brain. His career as a biologist began in Bern at the Eidgenossische Inspektion für Fortwesen, Jagd und Fischerei. In 1962 he was appointed head assistant (chef des travaux) at the University of Geneva, in the comparative anatomy and physiology laboratory (Dr H. J. Huggel), where he discovered the joys and the limitations of teaching. He was highly regarded as a lecturer and taught in a relaxed atmosphere of mutual respect and trust, much appreciated by his students. Professor Geiger was also the main organiser of field trips to Sète, on the French Mediterranean coast, where he was in his element living on the water. He went out on the trawlers with the students and introduced them enthusiastically to the marvels of sea fauna. He was happy during those field trips and had the knack of communicating his happiness to the students.