Takumi Nagao
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Takumi Nagao | |
|---|---|
長尾 巧 | |
| Born | March 9, 1891 Tagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | August 28, 1943 (aged 52) |
| Alma mater | Tokyo Higher Normal School; Tohoku Imperial University |
| Known for | Study of Nipponosaurus fossils |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology, Paleontology |
| Institutions | Yamaguchi Prefectural Iwakuni High School; Kagoshima Normal School; Hokkaido Imperial University; Tohoku Imperial University |
| Doctoral advisor | Chokatsu Yabe |
Takumi Nagao (長尾 巧; March 9, 1891 – August 28, 1943) was a Japanese geologist and paleontologist. He is best known for his research on the fossils of Nipponosaurus.[1]
Nagao was born in what is now Tagawa, Fukuoka Prefecture.[1] After graduating from the Tokyo Higher Normal School, he worked as a teacher at Iwakuni High School in Yamaguchi Prefecture and at the Kagoshima Normal School.[1] While studying at Tokyo Higher Normal School, he belonged to the Department of Natural History and became interested in geology through the lectures of Denzō Satō.[1]
He later entered Tohoku Imperial University, where he studied geology under Chokatsu Yabe in the Faculty of Science.[1] After graduating in 1921, he remained at the university as a lecturer.[1] His early research focused on the geological structure of coalfields in northern Kyushu, his home region.[1]
From 1927 to 1929, Nagao conducted research in Paris, France.[1] This overseas study was then a common practice for faculty candidates.[1] During this time, he earned his Doctor of Science degree and was appointed associate professor.[1] After returning to Japan, he joined the newly established Faculty of Science at Hokkaido Imperial University in 1930 as a professor.[1] At Hokkaido University, he taught courses in historical geology and paleontology in the Department of Geology and Mineralogy.[1] He studied the geology of Hokkaido’s coalfields, including those around Ishikari, and conducted research on Japanese fossils from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras.[1]
In 1933, the skull of a mammal discovered in Sakhalin was brought to him, which he identified as belonging to Desmostylus. Nagao personally traveled to the site and successfully excavated nearly a complete skeleton.[1] In 1936, he presented the Desmostylus fossils to Emperor Shōwa during the Imperial Army Grand Maneuvers visit to Hokkaido.[1] Later, dinosaur fossils were found in Sakhalin, prompting Nagao to return for further excavations. The fossils were later named Nipponosaurus.[1]
In February 1938, Nagao became president of the Palaeontological Society of Japan and served for one year.[2] In 1941, he returned to his alma mater, Tohoku Imperial University, as a professor of East Asian geology.[1] However, he developed stomach cancer and died on August 28, 1943, at the age of 52.[1]
