Ernst Sutter

Ernst Sutter (7 August 1914 - 9 November 1999) was a Swiss ornithologist and curator at the Basel museum. Sutter was a pioneer of radar ornithology, the study of bird migration using radars, in Europe.

Sutter was born in Basel where he studied. In the 1930's he participated in bird ringing at the Swiss Ornithological Institute and wen to study zoology under Professor Adolf Portmann. His research was on the avian brain, its growth and development. He also conducted research on growth and moult in several bird species. He completed his doctorate in 1943 and joined the museum In 1949 he joined the Basel museum as a curator. He joined a collection expedition to Sumba travelling with the ethnologist Alfred Bühler. He worked at the Basel museum until his retirment in 1980 but continued to work in an honorary position.

A major research that he undertook was on the study of bird migration using radar that he began at Zurich airport in 1954. He presented a summary of his research in 1958 at the International Ornithological Congress in Helsinki. He also helped organize the Congress of 1954 at Basel and edited the proceedings of the conference. He was an editor of the Swiss journal Der Ornithologische Beobachter and advised many doctoral students.