The Early History of Research on Echolocation

Abstract

It has been very gratifying to hear and read about the exciting new discoveries concerning echolocation by both bats and cetaceans from so many active laboratories on both sides of the Atlantic. I am particularly impressed because from about 1940 to 1960 very few scientists were actively investigating these fascinating problems, despite what seemed to me their obvious significance. The Frascati and Jersey conferences in 1966 and 1979 have not only confirmed but exceeded my expectations. Donald Griffin, “The Early History of Research on Echolocation,” in Animal Sonar Systems, eds. Rene- Guy Busnel and James F. Fish, p. 1-8 (New York: Plenum Press, 1980), p. 3. Hecht was a strong admirer of Jacques Loeb’s mechanistic epistemology, and thus thought of animals as simple and machine-like.