In Memoriam: Werner P. Koella

摘要

Werner P. Koella passed away on January 13, 2008 in Oberwil (Basel). He was born on April 13, 1917 in Zurich. To take our last farewell of a dear friend and esteemed colleague is sorrowful, but at the same time it is the occasion to appreciate events and memories of his life from an historical perspective. In my opinion, Werner's long and eventful life is a mark not only of physical fitness, but also of open-mindedness and balanced character. I first 'met' Werner .while perusing the sleep literature when I started the study of sleep mechanisms in the Institute of Physiology at the University of Zurich in 1957. He had left this Institute and headed for the U.S. several years before. The occasion to meet him personally occurred only in 1972, when he was back in Europe preparing the foundation of the European Sleep Research Society, in connection with the organization of the first European sleep congress in Basel. I was privileged to collaborate with him in organizational work during the early critical years of the new Society, and I much appreciated his endeavors to enlarge and consolidate the scientific impact of the community of European sleep researchers.