Hitoshi Kihara was born on 21 October 1893 in
Tokyo, Japan. He graduated from the Faculty of Agriculture,
Hokkaido Imperial University and served as a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture,
Kyoto University from 1927 to 1956 and the
National Institute of Genetics from 1955 to 1969, and also served at
Kihara Institute for Biological Research from 1942 to 1984. the United States
National Academy of Sciences, the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the
American Philosophical Society. Since 1983, the Genetics Society of Japan (GSJ) has awarded the Kihara Prize to researchers who made a considerable achievement in the field of genetics in honor of Hitoshi Kihara who contributed on a global scale to the field of
genetics and study of evolution with his research centering on wheat. In 1985, the Kihara Memorial Yokohama Foundation for the Advancement of Life Sciences was established in
Yokohama, to commemorate Hitoshi Kihara and to promote
life sciences. ==Contribution==