Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 90(november 2007)1, 3–4. 
 
 
  
 
Prof. Dr. Franz PIRCHNER  
CELEBRATED HIS 80
th
 ANNIVERSARY 
 
 
 
 
The Editorial Board of Acta agriculturae Slovenica (AAS) would like to congratulate Prof. Dr 
Franz Pirchner on his 80
th
 birthday which he celebrated on 7 January this year. We are grateful 
for his help and support as a member of the Editorial Board of AAS since 1990. 
 
Prof. Pirchner was born in Imst, Innsbruck, Tirol where he first came in contact with 
agriculture at the family farm. After obtaining degrees at Veterinary School (1950) and 
Agricultural University (1952) of Vienna, he joined J.L. Lush at Iowa Stete University from 
which he received his PhD in 1957. After few years of work at research station Wieselburg and 
in a poultry breeding company in USA he has held a professorship since 1964 first at Veterinary 
School of Vienna and than from 1970 until 1995 at Technical Faculty of Munich, 
Weihenstephan. Prof. Pirchner guided a large number of doctoral students, among them a fair 
number of international students. His enormous knowledge of literature inspired profound and 
fruitful discussions often setting new trends in animal breeding. He was a member of the 
Committee for Genetical-Statistical Methods of the German Society of Animal Breeding, the 
Executive Editor of the Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics between (1975–1998), he 
chaired the Genetics Comission of the EAAP (1966–1972), International Permanent Committee 
of WCGALP (1988–1992) and German Society of Animal Science (1984–1988). For his 
scientific contribution to the field he obtained doctor honnoris causa from the University of 
Ghent, Belgium and from ETH Zürich, Switzerland. From the German Society of Animal 
Breeding he received the Herman Nathusius Medal in 1998. In addition to more than hundred 
scientific papers he wrote also a standard text book Population Genetics in Animal Breeding. 
 
 
Editor 
Peter DOV Č 

Acta agriculturae Slovenica, 90(november 2007)1. 
 
4 
 
 
Prof. dr. Franz PIRCHNER  
OSEMDESETLETNIK 
 
Uredniški odbor Acte agriculturae Slovenice (AAS) se pridružuje čestitkam ob 80. rojstnem 
dnevu prof. dr. Franza Pirchnerja, ki ga je praznoval 7. januarja letos. Hvaležni smo mu za 
pomo č in podporo v vlogi člana Uredniškega odbora AAS od leta 1990 naprej. 
 
Prof. Pirchner je bil rojen v Imstu pri Innsbrucku na Tirolskem, kjer se je prvi č sre čal s 
kmetijstvom na doma či kmetiji. Po diplomah na Veterinarski fakulteti (1950) in Kmetijski 
univerzi (1952) na Dunaju, je pod vodstvom J.L. Lush-a doktoriral na Iowa State University leta 
1957. Po nekajletnem delu na raziskovalni postaji Wieselburg in v perutninarski firmi v ZDA je 
sprejel profesuro najprej na veterinarski fakulteti na Dunaju (1964), nato pa na Tehniški univerzi 
v Münchnu, Weihenstephan (1970–1995). Prof. Pirchner je bil mentor številnim doktorandom, 
med njimi tudi velikemu številu mednarodnih študentov. Njegovo izredno široko poznavanje 
strokovne literature je spodbujalo poglobljene in plodne diskusije, ki so pogosto pomenile 
za četek novih trendov v živinoreji. Prof. Pirchner je bil član odbora za genetsko statisti čne 
metode pri nemškem živinorejskem društvu, odgovorni urednik Journal of Animal Breeding and 
Genetics med leti 1975 in 1998, predsedoval je Komisiji za genetiko pri EAAP (1966–1972), 
Mednarodnemu stalnemu odboru WCGALP (1988–1992) in nemškemu društvu za znanost o 
živalih (1984–1988). Za njegov znanstveni doprinos na področju znanosti o živalih je prejel 
častna doktorata Univerze v Ghentu, Belgija in ETH v Zürichu, Švica. Nemško živinorejsko 
združenje mu je leta 1998 podelilo medaljo Hermanna Nathusiusa. Ob ve č kot sto znanstvenih 
člankih je prof. Pirchner napisal tudi standardni u čbenik populacijske genetike v živinoreji - 
Population Genetics in Animal Breeding. 
 
 
Urednik 
Peter DOV Č