Cho Wan-kyoo, former education chief and SNU president, dies at 98

Cho Wan-kyoo, a pioneering biologist who served as president of Seoul National University (SNU) and later as education minister, died of old age on Monday.

He was 98.

Born in Hwanghae Province in North Korea in 1928, Cho graduated from SNU with a degree in biology in 1952.

He earned his master's and doctoral degrees from SNU in 1956 and 1969, respectively.

Starting his career as an SNU professor in 1957, he discovered the key mechanisms regulating the maturation process of mammalian oocytes.

He is widely recognized for conducting original research, which includes developing a culture method to safely transport eggs and embryos.

He is also regarded as the godfather of basic biology in Korea.

Among his most cited findings was his research on the sex ratio at birth in Korea, in which he identified 110 male births for every 100 female births, a result he published in an international academic journal.

Believing that a university should be completely independent, Cho, while serving as SNU president between 1987 and 1991, used his authority to remove the campus ban on political activities.

He