Won Pyong-oh (May 19, 1929 – April 9, 2020) was a South Korean

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, known particularly for his work on Korean birds. He was the son of noted

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

n ornithologist Won Hong-gu (1888–1970). He published approximately 120 papers on Korean

ornithology Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

. He also published about 10 book-length studies of Korean zoology, although none have been translated into English.

Biography

Born in

Kaesong Kaesong (, ; ) is a special city in the southern part of North Korea (formerly in North Hwanghae Province), and the capital of Korea during the Taebong kingdom and subsequent Goryeo dynasty. The city is near the Kaesong Industrial Region cl ...

, Won began his college education in

, graduating from Wonsan Agricultural College (원산농업대학) in 1950 with a degree in

animal husbandry Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...

and joined there for work. With the outbreak of the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

in that year, he escaped to the South with a brother, while his parents and one brother remained in the North. Pyong-oh worked as a veterinary lieutenant on the front and he left military service in 1956 as a captain and joined the South Korean Department of Agriculture. He obtained a second degree in biology from Kyunghee University in 1959 and moved to Hokkaido working on a doctoral thesis that he received from Sapporo University in 1961. He was appointed to a permanent position at the

Kyung Hee University Kyung Hee University (KHU; ) is a Private university, private research university in South Korea with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. It was founded in 1949. Kyung Hee University is part of the Kyung Hee University System, which offers comprehensive ...

and in 1962 he went to Yale to work under

Sidney Dillon Ripley Sidney Dillon Ripley II (September 20, 1913 – March 12, 2001) was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist. He served as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for 20 years, from 1964 to 1984, leading the institution throug ...

. He became a full professor of zoology in May 1969. He headed the South Korean Society for Nature Conservation from 1992. In 1965, a Daurian starling ringed by Won in Seoul was found and reported by his father. This was the first contact between the two men after they were separated by the war. He managed to smuggle a letter to his father through the assistance of Soviet ornithologist

Leonid Portenko Leonid Oleksandrovych Portenko (; 11 October 1896 – 26 May 1972) was a Soviet Union, Soviet ornithology, ornithologist of Ukraine, Ukrainian origin who carried out extensive Zoogeography, zoogeographic studies on the birds of the northern and no ...

. In 2002, Won was finally granted permission to visit the North, although his parents and brother were then dead. Founded Kyunghee University Natural History Museum in 1978. As of 2006, Won was

professor emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retirement, retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". ...

at Kyunghee University. He died on April 9, 2020.

Biography

References

Further reading