Angel Alcala Marine Biology

Biography of Angel Alcala

Early Life

Angel Alcala was a Philippian scientist who was born on March 1, 1929. His parents were from Cauayan, Negros. They were living in a village in Negros. His village was with a coastal background that is why his interest in Marine biology is not a strange thing. As they were living in a village which was situated on the bank of a sea so it is clear that they will have closeness to Marine life. Same was the case with Angel Alcala as his interest was growing day by day as he was growing. His father was a fish farmer who used to earn his living by the farming of fishes on a large scale. Angel Alcala used to help his father in taking care of fish ponds in their form as he was the eldest child of his parents. His interest towards his education was also exceptional as he was very active in his school. He was enrolled in a pre –Medicine course after his early education. In year of 1951, after finishing his studies in biology, he started to study Marine life in detail.

Achievements

After completion of his study, he was offered for teaching at University of Silliman and he started his job as a teacher in biology department. After four years of his career, he had a turning point in it when Walter C. Brown visited his university and took Angel Alcala as his assistant. They worked in a venture and as a result it cleared their path for many new publications and researches. Angel Alcala helped him a lot in his researches which changed the dimensions of biology.

Contributions

Walter C. Brown helped him a lot in his researches and as a result he published his first book about life of amphibians in Mount areas. This book was published in 1955 which made Angel Alcala one of the important biologists of that time. With the help of Walter C. Brown, he was granted a Fulbright fellowship program, through which he earned a Masters degree in biology. After that, he completed his Doctorate and returned back to Silliman to start his job as associate professor. After teaching in many universities, he helped Philippines in study of Marine life and its development.

Death

Angel Alcala contributed marvelously in Marine biology as he made many researches in this field and wrote more than 160 papers and books. In his last days, he was suffering from cancer and as a result he died in August, 2010 in the age of 81 years.