| Activity | In 1932 he was graduated from the Biology Department of the Tokyo Bunrika University. In 1940 he earned the degree of Rigaku-Hakushi (Dr. Sci.) from the Kyoto Imperial University. His dissertation was on the mechanisms of absorption and excretion in the solenogaster Epimenia verrucosa (Nierstrasz). From 1941 to 1943 he was a member of the Research Institute for Natural Resources attached to the Education Ministry, and from 1943 to 1947 he served as Military Government Professor of Zoology in the Jakarta Medical College, Java. He was a member of the Science Education Office, at Osaka Prefecture, from 1947-1948, and Professor of Biology in the Osaka First Normal School (1948-1949). Dr. Baba held the position of Professor of Biology at Osaka Kyoiku University from 1949 to 1971, and is now Professor Emeritus.
In 1976 he received the Third Class of Merit of the name of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. He bacame an honorary member of the Japanese Society of Systematic Zoology in 1987, and the Malacological Society of Japan in 1988.He was named an honorary member of the Western Society of Malacologists in 1992.
Dr. Kikutaro Baba has almost single-handedly described the biodiversity of the Japanese opisthobranch fauna. 3 genera (Babaina Odhner, 1968, Babakina Roller, 1973, and Babiella Risso-Dominguez, 1964) and 8 species of opisthobranchs have been named for him (Linguella babai Tchang-Si, 1934, Marionopsis babai Odhner, 1936, Elysia babai Pruvot-Fol, 1945, Okenia babai Hamatani, 1961, Tamanovalva babai Burn, 1965, Flabellina babai Schmekel, 1970, Cyerce kikutarobabai Hamatani, 1976, Chelidonura babai Gosliner, 1988)." |