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科学网—古植物学的故事（3）：斯行健与中国古植物学的兴起

花匠小妙招
2024-11-12 20:00

古植物学的故事（3）：斯行健与中国古植物学的兴起

永驻天国的中国古植物学家（之一）

古植物学；斯行健；中国古植物学；兴起

发表于 2009-8-29 22:38:57

The rise of Chinese palaeobotany emphasizing the global context

----Development of geological approach on palaeobotany in China (by Qigao Sun)

Palaeobotany is typically of an interdisciplinary nature. In many universities palaeobotany is interpreted as a geological subject and in others as a biological/geological subject (Darrah, 1939). In the first half of the 20th century, palaeobotany was mainly considered as a geological subject in China largely because palaeobotany was applicable to economic development and construction. Therefore the geological approach was normally taken in China until 1980s.

Fig.2. Sze Hsing–Chien (Si Xing–Jian, 1901–1964) (From Li, 2001)

Sze Hsing-Chien is usually called “the founder of Chinese palaeobotany,” made a great contribution to the development of Chinese palaeobotany using the geological approach. Sze H.C. began his studies in Peking University in 1920. Later he became one of the students of Professor A.W. Grabau (1870–1946) and Lee H.T. (Li Si–Guang, 1889–1971). Professor Grabau, who was an American geologist and palaeontologist of the University of Columbia was invited to China in 1920 and he worked in the Geology Department of Peking University and at the Geological Survey in Beijing for about 26 years. Lee H.T. studied palaeontology in Birmingham University in Britain and got his M.Sc. degree in 1918. Influenced by these two professors, Sze became very interested in palaeontology and chose palaeobotany as his major. Sze H.C. graduated from the Geology Department of Peking University in 1926. In 1928 Sze went to Germany and studied palaeobotany at Berlin University with W. Gothan (1879–1954) who played an important role in Sze’s career. Sze got his Ph.D. in palaeobotany in 1931, the first Chinese palaeobotanist to do so (Zhang & Wang, 1994). After finishing his doctorate thesis, Sze went to study at the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm and worked with Professor T.G. Halle (Li, 2000). In 1930 Sze, together with W. Gothan, attended the 5th International Botanical Congress held at Cambridge, UK and he made friends with lots of botanists and palaeobotanists from all over the world (Li, 2000). Sze was a prolific palaeobotanist in China. During the 1930s, Sze H.C. pioneered studies on fossil plants in China and he published a series of important papers in German or English. Before he returned to China in 1933, Sze co-authored 5 papers with W. Gothan. From 1930 to 1939 Sze completed 21 papers as sole author. Although the research conditions in China at the time were very difficult, Sze made strenuous efforts to work on fossil plants and achieved brilliant results, indicating that Chinese palaeobotanists were able to work independently on fossil plants. In the 1940s Sze published a total of 31 papers and taught young palaeobotanists, such as Li Xing–Xue (Lee Hsing–Hsueh, 1917--). Sze had a broad interest in fossil plants and his work was involved in many different research areas within palaeobotany. Therefore, Sze H.C. has been regarded as the founder of palaeobotany in China (Zhang & Wang, 1994; Li, 2000, 2001).

[节选自：Sun Q.G., 2005. The rise of Chinese palaeobotany emphasizing the global context.
In: Bowden, A.J., Burek, C.V. & Wilding, R. (eds) History of Palaeobotany: Selected Essay. London: Geological Society, Special Publications, 241:293-298 ]

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