 In 1969, he was appointed professor and director of the Zoological Institute of Saarland University.In 1990, he initiated the field of study called "Technical Biology and Biomimetics" (which he supervised until his retirement in 2002) and also the "Society for Technical Biology and Bionics" (GTBB) of which he was the first chairman until 2003.After his retirement in 2002, he became head of the BMBF-funded Competence Network Biomimetics BIOKON at the University of Saarland.