Introductory comments on major papers by Professor Motoo Kimura

Abstract

Professor Motoo Kimura is best known for his neutral, random drift theory of molecular evolution which was proposed 25 years ago. The theory has revolutionized the way we think about molecular evolution. Yet, population geneticists are more impressed by the power, originality, and ingenuity of his research in theoretical population genetics. I believe there are many to be yet learned from his writing. The topics that he has treated during the past 40 years are diverse. Except for a few topics such as those in evolutionary stable strategies and applied quantitative genetics, he has indeed covered most that have been raised in modern evolutionary biology. Because of this diversity, however, it may not be easy to fully appreciate his papers, particularly for students and young researchers. Therefore it is my hope to set the background for his papers and point out their relation to other work and to subsequent developments. Here, 57 papers are grouped into 18 subjects. This grouping obviously does not follow the chronological order and is neither completely unambiguous nor mutually exclusive. Nevertheless, I have taken this compromise to save space (because the same topic sometimes appears repeatedly in several papers, of course with different favors), but more importantly, to emphasize the prospective value of Professor Kimura's work.