Katsura ÅŒyama
Katsura Ōyama (大山 桂 Ōyama Katsura, October 6, 1917 – December 30, 1995) was a Japanese paleontologist and zoologist, best known for his work on the Tertiary and Recent Mollusca of Japan.
Early life
ÅŒyama was born on October 6, 1917, the second son of Duke Kashiwa ÅŒyama, who was the second son of ÅŒyama Iwao. He graduated from the Department of Zoology, Tokyo Imperial University in 1941, and in the following year took up an assistant position in the Natural Resources Institute (資æºåŒ–å¦ç ”究所) of the Interior Ministry.[1]
Professional career
In July 1944, ÅŒyama moved to the Imperial Navy's Macassar Research Institute in present-day Indonesia, working as a researcher until the Institute's dissolution in May, 1946. Thereafter he returned to Tokyo and resumed his position at the Natural Resources Institute. In 1947, he took up a concurrent position at the Geological Survey of Japan. ÅŒyama received his PhD in 1955, and almost immediately left for a period of postdoctoral research with Dr. Myra Keen at Stanford University in California that lasted until April 1957. In 1979, ÅŒyama retired from the Geological Survey and founded a research laboratory at Toba Aquarium in Mie, also housing his vast library of paleontological and malacological literature.
Publications
ÅŒyama was a prolific author, both independently and in collaboration with others. Between 1959 and 1963, he published a six-part photographic catalog of many Japanese molluscan families, co-authored with Yoshio Takemura. Together with Tadashige Habe and Tokubei Kuroda he was commissioned by the publisher Maruzen to co-author The Seashells of Sagami Bay (1971) on behalf of the Imperial Household. ÅŒyama's collected papers were republished in two volumes, one to celebrate his 70th birthday in 1987[2] and one for his 77th in 1994.[3] A memorial volume of reminiscences and photographs appeared in 1996, following his death on December 30, 1995.[1]
Personal life
A lifelong bachelor, ÅŒyama was fluent in English and French. Like many of his contemporaries, he insisted on his name being cited in English using its Kunrei transliteration "Katura". He was a co-founder (in 1928) of the Malacological Society of Japan, and attended its annual meetings until 1994. He was latterly a frequent guest at the monthly meetings of the Hanshin Shell Club in Nishinomiya, HyÅgo Prefecture, together with other former members of Tetsuaki Kira's post-war Tengu-kai club.
The ÅŒyama Library
ÅŒyama built up a massive personal library of books and papers on Paleontology and Malacology that included many major nineteenth-century western works and a substantial body of Russian literature. Following his death this was held in storage at Toba Aquarium for many years, before being transferred to the Osaka Museum of Natural History at Nagai Park in 2013.
References
- 1 2 ÅŒyama Katsura-hakase TsuitÅ GyÅji-kai 1996. 大山桂åšå£«è¿½æ‚¼ã€€(ÅŒyama Katsura-hakase TsuitÅ: Mourning Dr. Katsura ÅŒyama). Chiba, M. Naruo. 87pp.
- ↑ Sakurai, K. (Ed.) 1987. 大山桂著作集 (ÅŒyama Katsura Chosaku-shÅ«: Collected works of Katsura ÅŒyama) ÅŒyama Katsura-hakase Koki Shukuga Kinen GyÅji-kai (Committee for celebrating Katsura ÅŒyama's 70th birthday). Tokyo. 844 pp.
- ↑ Kosuge, S. (Ed.) 1994. 大山桂著作集(ãã®ï¼’) (ÅŒyama Katsura Chosaku-shÅ« sono ni: Collected works of Katsura ÅŒyama part 2). ÅŒyama Katsura-hakase Kiju Shukuga Kinen GyÅji-kai (Committee for celebrating Katsura ÅŒyama's 77th birthday). Tokyo. 396 pp.
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