18. 8. 1948 Born as son of Anton Foissner (railwayman) and Maria Foissner (housewife) in Wartberg/Aist (Upper Austria) 1954 - 1962 Basic schools 1962 - 1967 Apprentice as a carpenter in Linz (Upper Austria), finished with fellow degree 1966 - 1974 Honory scientist at the Biological Station of Linz 1967 - 1968 Compulsory military service 1968 - 1973 Laboratory assistant in a medicinal laboratory 1973 Maturity as externist 1974 - 1980 Teacher at medicinal schools in the hospital of Linz (for microscopy and photography) 1973 - 1979 Student at the University of Salzburg (Zoology and Botany), finished with Dr. phil. 1977 Married with the student Ilse Fuchs 1980 Christian-Doppler-price for biology 1980 - 1986 Assistant at the Zoological Institute of the University of Salzburg 1980 Invited author for the re-edition of Kahl's Ciliata 1982 Inaugural dissertation (Habilitation): Dr. phil. habil. 1983 Member in the "Board of Reviewers" of the ARCHIV PROTISTENKUNDE and MIKROSKOPIE 1984 Member in the "Board of Reviewers" of the JOURNAL OF PROTOZOOLOGY 1985 SANDOZ-price for biology 1985 TRATZ-price for scientific research in Salzburg 1987 Professor (Extraordinarius) of Zoology at Salzburg University 1987 Invitation to the University of Adelaide by the ABRS (workshop on taxonomy of ciliates) 1987 Board of Reviewers "EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PROTISTOLOGY" 1988 Co-editor of the international journal "BIOLOGY AND FERTILITY OF SOILS" 1991 Board of Reviewers "ACTA PROTOZOOLOGICA" 1991 Vice President of the International Society of Protozoologists 1992 Co-editor of the "ARCHIV FÜR PROTISTENKUNDE" 1992 STIEGL-price for water protection 1993 Board of Reviewers "LAUTERBORNIA" 1994 Board of Reviewers "LIMNOLOGICA" 1996 President of German Society of Protozoologists 1996 Board of Reviewers "JOURNAL EUKARYOTIC MICROBIOLOGY" 1996 Visiting Professor at University of Rio de Janeiro on invitation by Prof. Silva Neto. Workshop on staining and cultivation of ciliates 1998 Visiting Professor at Riad University, Saudi Arabia on invitation of Prof. Khaled AL-Rasheid. Lectures on biodiversity of protozoa 1999 Founder and Chief Editor of the “PROTOZOOLOGICAL MONOGRAPHS” 1999 Country prize of upper Austria for scientific excellence 2001 Co-organizer of the XI International Congress of Protozoology held in Salzburg 2005 Plenary speaker at the XII International Congress of Protozoology 2006 Plenary speaker at the VII Asian Conference on Ciliate Biology 2006 President of the International Society of Protistologists 2008 Invitation to a plenary lecture at the University of Riyadh on occasion of the foundation of the “Excellence centre of Biodiversity studies” 2008 Board of Reviewers “BIOLOGICA, Bratislava” 2010 Tribute by the MIKROSKOPISCHE GESELLSCHAFT Wien for the outstanding contributions to the biology and taxonomy of ciliates 2016 EDUARD REICHENOW MEDAL for the lifework on protists 20.03.2020 Died in Salzburg, Austria

Further Links Universität Salzburg / University of Salzburg https://www.uni-salzburg.at/index.php?id=52 Deutsche Gesellschaft für Protozoologie  http://www.protozoologie.de/ Wilhelm Foissner at ORCID orcid.org/0000-0003-4528- 0176 Wilhelm Foissner at Researchgate  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Wilhelm_Foissner2 Wilhelm Foissner at Wikipedia  https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Foissner Wilhelm Foissner at Zobodat  https://www.zobodat.at/personen.php?id=590 Protozoological Monographs / Shaker Verlag  http://www.shaker.eu/en/content/catalogue/index.asp?la ng=en&ID=6&category=170