Isao Ijima | |
---|---|
飯島魁 | |
Born | July 24, 1861 |
Died | March 14, 1921 | (aged 59)
Alma mater | Imperial University, Tokyo |
Occupations | |
Employer | Tokyo Imperial University |
Known for | Founder of Parasitology |
Isao Ijima (飯島魁, Iijma Isao, July 24, 1861 – March 14, 1921) was a Japanese zoologist known for his studies of sponges (Porifera) — including his circumscription of the genus Staurocalyptus — leeches (Hirudinea), flatworms (Turbellaria), birds, and fish. [1] [2] Professor of Zoology at Tokyo Imperial University, he is considered the founder of parasitology in Japan and was the first President of the Ornithological Society of Japan. [1] Taxa named in his honour include Ijima's sea snake [3] and Ijima's leaf warbler. [4] [5]
Born in Hamamatsu in 1861 into a samurai family of Hamamatsu Domain, at the age of fifteen he entered the Kaisei Gakkō [ja] school in Tokyo, before enrolling as a student in the Science College at the Imperial University, Tokyo in 1878. [1] [2] There he studied under Edward Sylvester Morse and Charles Otis Whitman. [2] In 1879, together with Sasaki Chūjirō , both having previously received training from and assisted Morse in his exploration of the Ōmori Shell Mounds, Ijima excavated the Okadaira Shell Mound; this is credited with being the first modern archaeological survey conducted solely by Japanese. [6] [7] [8] Upon graduation in 1881, as one of three from the first cohort in the Department of Zoology, he became an assistant in the College. [1] [2] The next year he went to Germany to study zoology at the University of Leipzig, where he spent three years working under the direction of Doctor Rudolf Leuckart; he was awarded his Ph.D. in 1884. [1]
Returning to Japan in 1886, at the age of 25 he was appointed Professor of Zoology at the Imperial University, Tokyo, where he remained until his death. [1] [2] In 1893, with the description of Parus owstoni (now Sittiparus owstoni or Owston's tit), he became the first zoologist from Japan to describe a bird. [9]: 276 [10] In 1903, he was involved in the establishment of Sakai Aquarium and in 1904 he was appointed the second director of the Misaki Marine Biological Station [ja]. [2] [11] In 1912, he was the founding president of the Ornithological Society of Japan. [2] In 1918, he published his influential A Manual of Zoology (動物学提要, Dōbutsu-gaku Teiyō). [2] [12] In his personal life, Ijima enjoyed hunting, shooting, fishing, wine, and smoking a pipe. [1] He died in 1921. [1]