Maximilian Renner

Renner was married and had two daughters. He died at the age of 70 on March 20, 1990.

Previous work by other chronobiologists set the stage for Renner's own research. His mentor, Karl Von Frisch won a Nobel Prize in 1973 in Physiology or Medicine for his investigations of sensory perceptions in honey bees. This led Renner's peer, Ingeborg Beling, to study time memory in honey bees. The work done by Von Frish and Beling paved the way for Renner's main discovery of time sense in honey bees.

In 1955 Max Renner trained bees in Paris by consistently giving them food at the same time every day. He then flew these bees to New York, in a constantly illuminated environment to see if time sense (coming back to the same spot in 24 hour intervals) could happen without constant exogenous factors, i.e. external factors like sunlight or temperature. The experiment examined whether the change in geographic latitude and different time zones impacted what time the bees would come back for food. He found that bees returned to the same place in roughly 24 hour intervals even in the new location, indicating the presence of an endogenous clock, that is, a regulator intrinsic to the organism independent of the environment.

Maximilian Renner (4 November 1919 – 20 March 1990) was a German zoologist and chronobiologist. He worked as a researcher and professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich focusing on "Zeitsinn," or time sense, in bees. His biggest contribution to chronobiology was an experiment in which he explored the concept of “Zeitgedächtnis,” or time memory, by flying bees to different time zones and examining their activity. He continued his research efforts and made various publications on the topic of bee physiology and behavior.

Maximilian Renner was born in Munich on November 4, 1919, and completed his education there. In 1960 he began teaching at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. While there he researched the chronobiology in animals, with a particular focus on honey bees (Apis mellifica). In 1967 he became an adjunct professor (außerplanmäßiger Professor), then retired in 1985 as a Professor (C2). Even after his retirement, he still regularly undertook excursions with students to bring them closer to the beauty of nature.