VIENNA (AP) — An Austrian university has posthumously stripped Nobel Prize-winning scientist Konrad Lorenz of his honorary doctorate due to his fervent embrace of Nazism.

The University of Salzburg cites Lorenz's 1938 application for membership in Hitler's Nazi party in its decision made public Thursday.

Lorenz described himself as "always a National Socialist." He said his work "stands to serve National Socialist thought."

The university says Lorenz spread "basic elements of the racist ideology of National Socialism" in his work.

The late Austrian zoologist, ethologist and ornithologist was one of three winners of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

He is known for his study of instinctive behavior in animals.

Lorenz only acknowledged being a member of the Nazi party after his membership application turned up long after World War II.