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Norbert
Bischof wurde am 6. März 1930 in Breslau geboren. Seine
wissenschaftliche Laufbahn begann bei Erich von Holst und
Konrad Lorenz in Seewiesen und führte über das CalTech
in Los Angeles zur Universität Zürich, an der er
von 1975 bis 1997 als ordentlicher Professor tätig war.
Seit 1997 war er Honorarprofessor für Psychologie an
der
Universität München. Der Vater dreier erwachsener
Töchter lebte bis zu seinem Tod am 19.2.26 mit seiner Frau Doris Bischof-Köhler
in Bernried am Starnberger See.
Norbert Bischof starb am 19. Februar 2026 im Alter von 95 Jahren in Bernried am Starnberger See im Kreis seiner Familie. Ende Januar 2026 war bei ihm eine rasch fortschreitende, tödliche Erkrankung diagnostiziert worden.
Bis zuletzt beschäftigte er sich mit seinem Buch Theoretische Psychologie – Worauf es ankommt und wie es zusammenhängt. Eine erste Fassung hatte er im Herbst 2025 abgeschlossen. In den letzten beiden Wochen vor seinem Tod ging er das Manuskript gemeinsam mit seiner Frau und seinen Töchtern nochmals durch. Das Buch wurde 2026 postum veröffentlicht. Mehr zum Buch
Universität Zürich, in memoriam
Felix Schönbrodt: Nachruf auf Norbert Bischof (Psychologische Rundschau)
Gerhard Medicus: Pionier des interdisziplinären Dialogs – In Memoriam Norbert Bischof
Professor of Cognitive Psychology, University of Bern
With great sadness, I learned of the passing of Norbert Bischof—an extraordinary scientific mind who profoundly and lastingly shaped me as my doctoral advisor at the University of Zürich.
He possessed that rare quality in science: the ability to see connections across disciplines and seemingly distant topics, yet always with remarkable clarity and—importantly—embed them within a coherent structure using a system-theoretic approach. His outstanding handbook articles on spatial perception left a lasting impression on me, and he developed the “Zurich Model of Social Motivation,” which still influences generations of students and scholars.
At Attenhoferstrasse 9 on the Zürichberg, in a building packed with research laboratories and an animal observation station, he created the hub of what he called “Biomathematical Psychology.” It was an intellectually vibrant place—from dusk to dawn, and often later—where internationally renowned researchers came and went, among them Francisco Varela, Karl Pribram, Jane Goodall, Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, and Gerhard Vollmer, to name just a few I still vividly remember.
Norbert Bischof was a brilliant lecturer—deep and broad in his thinking, yet able to express complex scientific insights with striking simplicity. I remember once walking back with him to the institute when we heard a woodpecker. He remarked: “You know, using one’s head as a hammer is idiotic from a design perspective.”
I remain deeply grateful for his mentorship and inspiration.
Professor Emeritus of Neuropsychology, University of Zurich
I greatly admire Norbert Bischof. To me, he is one of the most outstanding psychologists, at least in the German-speaking world. And I say this with full awareness of many other renowned psychologists and behavioral scientists from this region. Hardly anyone else has managed as successfully as he did to integrate different disciplines—biology, psychology, ethology, and cybernetics—into a coherent perspective. Moreover, he was extraordinarily well read and understood psychology and behavioral science in a way that few colleagues could match. Without intending to diminish the contributions of others, he was and remains an exceptional representative of our field. I learned a great deal from him. The few occasions on which we had the opportunity to discuss scientific ideas together rank among the most important moments of my academic career. Dear Norbert Bischof — thank you for your inspiration and for your contributions.
In H. Lück (Hrsg.): Psychologie in Selbstdarstellungen, Band IV, Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers, 2004 lesen