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Fumio Maekawa

まえかわ ふみお

Maekawa Fumio

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1908-10-26
Died
1984-01-13 age 75
Nationality
Japan
Languages
Japanese

Career

Occupations
botanist, university professor, researcher
Active Years
1932-1984
Affiliations
University of Tokyo, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Institute of Evolutionary Biology

Education

Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo)
Faculty of Science / Department of Botany
Year of Graduation: 1932
Country: Japan
Tokyo Imperial University (now University of Tokyo)
Faculty of Science / Department of Botany
Degree: 博士（理学）
Year of Graduation: 1940
Country: Japan
Completed doctoral thesis while serving in the military

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Exploring Plant Evolution

1969 science

A general-audience overview discussing plant evolution and biogeography from a large-scale perspective.

evolutionbiogeographysystematics

Days Gone By

1985 memoir/essays

A reflective work containing personal recollections and accounts of his research life (published 1985).

memoirhistory of science

The Path Plants Came

1998 science commentary

An overview of the history of plant distribution and evolution. May include later revisions or posthumous compilations (published 1998).

biogeographyevolutionary theoryhistorical distributions

Iwanami Dictionary of Biology (early editor)

reference

Served as one of the early editors of a reference dictionary in biology.

referenceediting

Bibliography

  • Exploring Plant Evolution
  • Days Gone By
  • The Path Plants Came
  • Iwanami Dictionary of Biology (editor)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
large-scale, sweeping argumentationtheoretical and synthesizing interpretation
Recurring Motifs
biogeographical perspectiveintegration of temporal and spatial scales

Legacy

A botanist who contributed broad-scale perspectives to plant taxonomy, biogeography, and evolutionary theory. He proposed ideas such as the significance of the Fossa Magna as a distributional boundary and concepts like prehistoric naturalization; his approaches drew both interest and criticism. His author abbreviation in botanical names is F.Maek.

Academic Societies

  • Japanese Society for Plant Science

Trivia

  • Botanical author abbreviation used for him is 'F.Maek.'.
  • He completed his doctoral thesis while serving in the military and was noted in anecdotes as an enlisted man who earned a doctorate.