Dr. Kinji Magara was born on 23 April 1936 in Fukui Prefecture, Japan, and passed away on 20 February 2007 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.<br>Dr. Magara invented “cross-plot of Δt_sh of mudstone (P-wave transit time in micro-second a foot) versus burial depth” to analyze mudstone compaction in its burial history, and extensively studied the burial profiles of Δt_sh of the Niigata Sedimentary Basin. He established methods to analyze overpressures in mudstones and the primary migration of oil and gas in burial history. His “downward migration theory” in primary, oil and gas migration was widely accepted over the world. He successfully applied his method to various basins over the world. His analyses should be called “basin analysis” in today's usage. His activities can be divided into four periods.<br>[The first period]<br>1959∼: graduated from Faculty of Science, Kyoto University (majoring in geology); immediately joined Teikoku Oil Company; later moved to Japan Petroleum Exploration Company, Ltd. (JAPEX) During his works in the companies, he worked as a well-site geologist in the Niigata basin. He was awarded doctor of science from Kyoto University.<br>[The second period]<br>1967: invited by Canadian National Geology Research as a research geologist, and was on leave from JAPEX for one year; later moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and left JAPEX.<br>1969: joined Imperial Oil Company (Exxon Canada) as an exploration specialist.<br>1977: accepted the position of Professor of Reservoir Studies Institute, Texas Tech University.<br>1979: moved to Bureau of Economic Geology, the University of Texas at Austin to be a research scientist/adjunct professor.<br>[The third period]<br>1981: moved to King Abdul-Aziz University of Saudi Arabia as a professor.<br>1992: moved to United Arab Emirates University, and became Professor of Natural Sciences.<br>[The fourth period]<br>1995: moved to Tsukuba University to be a professor of the course of international development engineering.<br>2000: accepted a position of professor of Northeast Asia Studies, University of Shimane.<br>2007: passed away on 20 February, and awarded the professor emeritus from University of Shimane on the date.<br> Dr. Magara was successful in analyzing various, petroleum geological phenomena in the first through third periods. He published three books to sum up his results of studies. His works in the first through third periods are still referred in many works. He changed his targets of studies in the fourth period to international development engineering and comparative analyses of relationships between scientists or engineers and specialists of humanities.