The next generation began during the 1930s with the work of Austrian biologists Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch , and the Dutch biologist Niko Tinbergen . The three men were joint winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1973 . Although many naturalists have studied aspects of animal behavior throughout history , the modern discipline of ethology is generally considered to have begun during the 1930s with the work of Dutch biologist Nikolaas Tinbergen and Austrian biologists Konrad Lorenz and Karl von Frisch , joint winners of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine .