Shirai Mitsutaro
Shirai Mitsutarō ( Japanese 白 井 光 太郎 , * July 17, 1863 in Edo (today: Tokyo ); † May 30, 1932 there) was a Japanese phytopathologist , professor at the University of Tokyo and first president of the Japanese Society for Phytopathology. He also made lasting contributions to researching the history of natural history in his country. Its botanical-mycological author's abbreviation is " Shirai ".
Life
Shirai was born a few years before the Meiji Restoration in Edo (now Tokyo) in the branch of the Fukui domain. Immediately after completing his studies in botany at the newly founded University of Tokyo in 1886, he was given teaching duties at the affiliated college of agriculture and forestry, which later found its final organizational form as the faculty of Tokyo University. From 1899 to 1901 he studied plant physiology in Berlin . During this time he established close ties with Paul Christoph Hennings (1841–1908), who, as curator at the Museum of the Botanical Garden, had matured into one of Germany's leading mycologists . Hennings introduced Shirai's name into botanical nomenclature (Shiraia and Shiraiella).
After returning, Shirai set up the world's first chair for phythopathology. In 1920 the Japanese Society for Phytopathology ( 日本 植物 病理学 会 , Nihon shokubutsu byōri gakkai ) was founded. Between 1915 and 1919 Shirai also taught as a professor at the Tokyo School of Agriculture ( Tōkyō nōgyō daigaku ). In 1929 he retired. He died three years later.
In addition to his research on plant diseases and fungi, Hirai dealt intensively with the historical development of natural history in Japan and built up a huge collection of old prints and manuscripts from Japan and China. Parts of it are scattered across several libraries in the country. Around 6000 volumes are kept as "Shirai Bunko" in the National Parliament Library.
Works
- Kimura Yōjirō (Ed.): Shirai Mitsutarō chosaku-shū [Collected Writings of Shirai Mitsutarō]. Vol. 1-6, Tokyo: Kagaku Shoin, 1985-90.
- Shirai Mitsutaro: A Brief History of Botany in Old Japan. In: Scientific Japan - Past and Present. Tokyo: National Research Council of Japan, 1926, pp. 213–227 ( digitized BHL )
literature
- Suematsu Naoji: 本 会 初 代 会長 白井光 太郎 先生 の 生 誕 第 百年 を 迎 え て (“On the 100th birthday of Dr. Mitsutaro Shirai, the first President of the Japanese Society for Phytopathology”). Annals of the Phytopathological Society of Japan, 27 (3), 99-101, 1962 ( digitized ).
- Sakai Shigeyasu: History of Plant Pathology in Japan. Annual Review of Phytopathology, Vol. 12: 13-26 (September 1974)
- Geoffrey C. Ainsworth: Introduction to the history of plant pathology . Cambridge University Press, 1981.
Web links
- Description of some of the works in the Shirai Collection in the National Parliamentary Library
- Portrait of Shirai Mitsutarō (Department of Phythopathology, University of Tokyo)
- Phytopathological Society of Japan
- Author entry and list of the described plant names for Shirai Mitsutarō at the IPNI
Individual evidence
- ↑ During the Edo period (1603-1867) the local rulers ( daimyō ) were forced to maintain a settlement in Edo, the seat of the Tokugawa shoguns.
- ↑ On Hennings see G. Lindaus obituary ( Hedwigia 48 (supp.), 1–4. )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Shirai, Mitsutaro |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 白 井 光 太郎 (Japanese name); Shirai, Kōtarō (alternative reading); Shirai (botanical author abbreviation) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Japanese botanist and mycologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 17, 1863 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Edo (Tokyo) |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 30, 1932 |
| Place of death | Tokyo |