Ivan Regen

Who was Ivan Regen?

Ivan Regen was a Slovenian biologist, best known for his studies in the field of bioacoustics.

Regen was born in the hamlet of Lajše and became interested in insect sounds as a child. His family couldn't afford to pay for his schooling, so he studied first at the local seminary for which he received a scholarship, and slowly saved enough funds for the tuition fee in Vienna. There he studied natural history at the University of Vienna under the tutorship of Grobben, Exner and Claus. He received his doctorate in 1897 and began to work as a gymnasium professor, first in Vienna, and later in Hranice. At last he was transferred back to a gymnasium in Vienna after a recommendation from Exner and worked there until his retirement in 1918.

In the meantime Regen began his research in animal physiology, being one of the first Slovenian scientists to work abroad after the World War I. With careful observations of katydid and cricket stridulation he proved that insects respond to acoustic stimuli from other individuals and was able to provoke his subjects to respond to artificial stimulation using a loudspeaker. Later, he demonstrated that insect hearing depends on intact tympanal organ which was the first description of this organ's function. For his contributions he is regarded as the founder of modern bioacoustics. He also studied other physiological phenomena in insects, such as breathing, hibernation, the development of pigment under different conditions, and ecdysis.