Ivan Regen

Ivan Regen, also known as Janez or Johann Regen (1868 to 1947), was a Slovenian biologist best known for his studies in the field of bioacoustics. Born in the hamlet of Lajše in Trata, he became interested in insect sounds as a child, studied natural history at the University of Vienna and received his doctorate in 1897. With careful observations of katydid and cricket stridulation he proved that insects respond to acoustic stimuli from other individuals, and he later demonstrated that insect hearing depends on an intact tympanal organ, the first description of that organ's function. For these contributions he is regarded as the founder of modern bioacoustics. His largest project was a geobiological laboratory, a large terrarium in which he studied phonotaxis using as many as 1600 females. In 1940 he became an associate member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.