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François Huber was a pioneer in honey bee research. Though blind, he made several important discoveries that made lasting contributions to the academic world, significantly influencing modern beekeeping and apicultural science.
Among many other discoveries he made in his lifetime, some of his most well-known in bee research are the following:
- Queens fight each other for their place in the hive.
- Drones are killed or removed by the end of the summer season.
- Antennae are used to communicate with each other.
- Mating occurs in the air, not in the hive.
- Huber confirmed the works of Schirach that royal jelly was an essential part of rearing queens.
References:
Image of queen bee illustration: Bevan, E. (1827). The honey bee: Its natural history, physiology, and management (illustration of queen bee). Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy.
Image of beekeeper illustration: Various. (1897).
Die Gartenlaube (1897), image from page 476 [Illustration]. In Die Gartenlaube. Ernst Keil’s Nachfolger. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/.../File:Die_Gartenlaube...
de Candolle, A. P. (1832).
The life and writings of François Huber. In The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (Vol. 13, pp. 283–296). Google Books
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