Hou Xian-guang
Hou Xian-guang (alternatively Xianguang; Chinese: 侯先光; born 26 March 1949) is a Chinese paleontologist at Yunnan University who made key discoveries in the Cambrian life of China around 518 myr. His first discovery of animal fossils from the Cambrian sediments (now called Maotianshan Shales) at Chengjiang County, Yunnan Province, led to the establishment of the Chengjiang biota, an assemblage of various life forms during the Cambrian Period. The discovery of the Chengjiang biota, remarked as "among the most spectacular in this [20th] century", added to the better understanding of how animal forms (different phyla) originated and evolved during the so-called Cambrian explosion.
Hou Xian-guang | |
|---|---|
| Born | 26 March 1949 Fenxiang, Jiangsu Province, China |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Alma mater | Nanjing University (MSc) University of Uppsala (PhD) |
| Known for | Chengjiang biota |
| Spouse | Qing Liu |
| Children | Min Hou |
| Awards | Grand prize of Natural Sciences (1997) First-class Award of Natural Sciences (2003) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Palaeontology |
| Institutions | Nanjing University Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology Yunnan University |
| Thesis | Bradoriid arthropods from the Lower Cambrian of South-west China (1997) |
| Author abbrev. (zoology) | Hou |
Among the recognitions Hou received are the Grand Prize of Natural Sciences (1997) from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the First-class Award of Natural Sciences (2003), one of the highest State Science and Technology Prizes of the People's Republic of China. The Yunnan University claims that it "gained a worldwide reputation through the discovery and research [by Hou]."