Heinrich, Bernd (1940– )

German-born US zoologist and ecologist. His early research made a major contribution to the study of ravens and owls. In 1970 he began studying temperature regulation and energy economics in bumblebees, and postulated that these bees maintain a body temperature above the ambient environmental temperature. He wrote Bumblebee Economics (1979) for both the scientist and lay reader. He was a marathon runner who called the bumblebee a ‘supreme endurance athlete’.

Heinrich was born in Bad Polzin, Germany. He emigrated to the USA in 1950 when his parents moved to Maine. After doing research as a zoology fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (1970–71), he was an entomologist at the University of California, Berkeley (1971–80), before becoming a professor of zoology at the University of Vermont, Burlington (1980).