Motoo Kimura
Motoo Kimura (木村資生
Kimura Motoo) (
November 13,
1924 -
November 13,
1994). Born in
Okazaki,
Aichi Prefecture, Kimura was a highly influential
Japanese
mathematical biologist working mostly in the field of theoretical
population genetics, although he did not have any formal training in
mathematics (Crow, 1996).
In
genetics, he is famous for his innovative use of
diffusion equations to calculate the probability of fixation and time to fixation of beneficial, deleterious, or neutral
alleles (Watterson, 1996). Combining theoretical
population genetics with
molecular evolution data, he also developed the
neutral theory of molecular evolution in which
genetic drift is the main force changing
allele frequencies. (Kimura, 1968, 1983; Ohta and Gillespie, 1996).
James F. Crow, himself a renowned population geneticist, considers Kimura to be one of the two greatest evolutionary geneticists, along with
Gustave Malécot, after the great trio of the
modern synthesis (
Haldane,
Wright,
Fisher). He was married once to Hiroko Kimura. They had one child, a son, Akio, and had a granddaughter, Hanako--a daughter of Akio (Steen, 1996).
*
* [
1]
*
*
