Ma Shijun (1915-1991), born in Yanzhou City of Shandong Province, was graduated form the Biology Department of Agriculture Institute of Beiping University (today's Peking University) in1937, and took up research work about agricultural pest in Shandong and Hubei provinces from 1938 to 1943. In 1948, he went to study the insect bionomy in Utah State University of USA, and obtained the master's degree in 1949, the doctor's degree in 1951 there.
![]() |
Ma was also a member of Harmful Insects Experts Committee of Food and Agriculture Organization and Environment and Planning Organization of the United Nations, a committee member of International System and Evolution Biology Council, and a member of Insect Association of English Royal Academy of Sciences.
Ma had published more the 150 papers and 7 works. He fostered 20 graduates and 19 doctors. He established important theories such as the social, economic and natural complex ecosystem and eco-projects, contributing greatly to the biological sphere of China.
As early as the 1970s, Ma put forward the theory of sustainable development and drafted the famous Brundtland Declaration: Our Common Future together with then wife of Norway Prime Minister Brundtland.
With his profound knowledge, hard working spirits and outstanding accomplishments, Ma had become a master of biology, systematic biological theory, ecological control, and sustainable development theory, and the forerunner of applications of these theories.