Scientific Migration in East Asia: The Research Trajectory of a Korean Silkworm Geneticist, Kye Ung Sang

Abstract

In the first half of the 20th century, Kye Ung Sang(1893~1967) was a so-called itinerant scientist, who traveled around East Asia to conduct research activities. Despite his education and research experience in sericulture at Imperial University in Japan, he was able to engage in research actively only aer he moved to China. Although he returned to colonial Joseon, his position was not guaranteed, and even aer liberation, his research conditions surrounding him did not improve at all. It was only when he went up to North Korea that he received state support and reached the heyday of scientic research. When crossing regions, he moved in one body united with his research subjects and achievements. In this process, as he accumulated his scientic achievements, Kye Ung Sang grew from an assistant researcher to a leader in the research group. As his scientific research progressed, the selected silkworms had to escape from their natural environment and live in a harsher and changed environment. His research outcomes, which changed from anatomy and physiology to genetics and breeding, came to possess a strong social value beyond the academic dimension. Kye’s scientic journey was a strategic way to advance his research while actively seeking scientic survival. As he repeatedly moved from region to region, he rose from the periphery to the center of science and became a pivotal gure in the research group. By successfully carrying out the scientic missions set forth by the nation as important, he joined the ranks of the country’s top scientists. Kye Ung Sang’s scientific migration simultaneously demonstrates the scientific activities of Korean scientists and the scientic circulation in East Asia.