Tohru Uchida

Tohru Uchida ( 内田亨 , August 24 , 1897 – October 27, 1981) was a Japanese zoologist who specialised in Cnidaria and who taught zoology and taxonomy at Hokkaido University, where in 1932 he became the first full time professor of systematic taxonomy in the Department of Zoology (1932-1961).

He received his Doctor of Science from Tokyo University in 1923, for work on Stauromedusae and Cubomedusae, which was followed with further study in Germany for two years, studying under Frisch in Munich and Goldschmidt in Berlin-Dahlem, in their laboratories.

He worked to establish systematic taxonomy of animals and also studied sex changes in amphibians. His areas of interest were broad, and in addition to his specialty of invertebrates he also published on birds and mammals.

He also wrote essays and other works, and in 1953 won the first Japan Essayist Club Award for "The Woodpecker's Path". In 1961, he became president of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology.