Makoto Kumada (熊田 誠, Kumada Makoto; 17 January 1920 – 28 June 2007) was a Japanese chemist and was a Professor of…
Makoto Kumada (熊田 誠, Kumada Makoto; 17 January 1920 – 28 June 2007) was a Japanese chemist and was a Professor of Chemistry first at Osaka City University until his retirement in 1983 at Kyoto University in Japan. In 1972, Kumada's group reported nickel-catalyzed cross coupling reactions nearly concurrently with the Corriu group working in France. The Kumada coupling now bears his name. In an interview after the 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced, Nobel Committee member Jan Bekvall (professor at Stockholm University) said: "If Professor Kumada been alive, he could have won this year's Nobel Prize for his work in developing cross-coupling."
Famous Alumni of Kyoto Imperial University
Kyoto Imperial University: 15 people
Eiji Sasaki (佐々木 英治, Sasaki Eiji; 23 August 1915 – 15 December 2007) was a Japanese businessman, former Vice President…
Eiji Sasaki (佐々木 英治, Sasaki Eiji; 23 August 1915 – 15 December 2007) was a Japanese businessman, former Vice President of Ube Industries and former President of TYS.
Masaaki Morisita (森下正明光) (27 January 1913 - 25 February 1997) was a Japanese ecologist and professor emeritus of animal…
Masaaki Morisita (森下正明光) (27 January 1913 - 25 February 1997) was a Japanese ecologist and professor emeritus of animal ecology at Kyoto University. He is known as the father of population ecology in Japan. Morisita's overlap index and Morisita's index of dispersion are named after him. In addition to his work on statistical ecology, he also studied the natural history of Japanese ants. With several other myrmecologists, he produced a complete catalogue of ants in Japan. Three species of ants are named after him (Pyramica morisitai, Proceratium morisitai , and Lasius morisitai).
Masao Harada (原田 正夫, Harada Masao; September 22, 1912 – January 22, 2000) was a Japanese athlete who competed mainly in…
Masao Harada (原田 正夫, Harada Masao; September 22, 1912 – January 22, 2000) was a Japanese athlete who competed mainly in the triple jump. In this event he won a silver medal at the 1936 Olympics. He won two more silver medals, in the long jump and triple jump, at the 1934 Far Eastern Championship Games.
Kiyoshi Yabuuchi (Yabuuchi Kiyoshi 薮内 清; 12 February 1906 (Meiji 39) – 2 June 2000 (Heisei 12)), often written in…
Kiyoshi Yabuuchi (Yabuuchi Kiyoshi 薮内 清; 12 February 1906 (Meiji 39) – 2 June 2000 (Heisei 12)), often written in Kunrei-shiki romanization as Kiyosi Yabuuti, was a Japanese astronomer and historian of science. He gained an international reputation as a leading pioneer in the field of pre-1840 Chinese mathematics and Chinese astronomy.
Ryōichi Ikeda (Japanese: 池田 亮一, Hepburn: Ikeda Ryōichi; real name: 三村 亮一, Hepburn: Mimura Ryōichi; 1906 – June 14…
Ryōichi Ikeda (Japanese: 池田 亮一, Hepburn: Ikeda Ryōichi; real name: 三村 亮一, Hepburn: Mimura Ryōichi; 1906 – June 14, 1963) was a Japanese communist, editor-in-chief of the Shimbun Akahata, and a senior member of the Japanese Communist Party. He was born in Okayama Prefecture.
Eizaburō Nishibori (西堀 栄三郎, Nishibori Eizaburō; January 28, 1903 – April 13, 1989) was a Japanese scientist, alpinist…
Eizaburō Nishibori (西堀 栄三郎, Nishibori Eizaburō; January 28, 1903 – April 13, 1989) was a Japanese scientist, alpinist and technologist. He is also known as the captain of the primary Japanese Antarctica wintering party.
Woo Jang-chun (April 8, 1898 – August 10, 1959) was an agricultural scientist and botanist active in Japanese Korea and…
Woo Jang-chun (April 8, 1898 – August 10, 1959) was an agricultural scientist and botanist active in Japanese Korea and later in South Korea, famous for his discoveries in the genetics and breeding of plants. Woo was born and raised in Japan, overcoming poverty and discrimination in Imperial Japan to become a prominent researcher and teacher. When Japanese rule over Korea ended in 1945, Woo left his mother, wife, and children in Japan and settled in what would become South Korea to lead the country's efforts in botany and agriculture. There is a memorial museum in the port city of Busan, where he lived and worked in Korea, honoring his life and accomplishments. Woo is credited in scientific literature as Nagaharu U ( OO), a Japanese reading of the hanja of his Korean name; the pronunciation of his family name 禹 can be Romanized as U in both Japanese (う) and Korean (우).
Baron Masayuki Matsuda (Japanese: 松田正之; 2 November 1892 – 2 May 1976) was a Japanese politician who was Governor of the…
Baron Masayuki Matsuda (Japanese: 松田正之; 2 November 1892 – 2 May 1976) was a Japanese politician who was Governor of the South Seas Mandate from 1932 to 1933. He was a graduate of Kyoto Imperial University and a relative of politician Yoriyasu Arima.
Shirō Ishii (Japanese: 石井 四郎, Hepburn: Ishii Shirō; [iɕiː ɕiɾoː]; 25 June 1892 – 9 October 1959) was a Japanese…
Shirō Ishii (Japanese: 石井 四郎, Hepburn: Ishii Shirō; [iɕiː ɕiɾoː]; 25 June 1892 – 9 October 1959) was a Japanese biological weapons specialist, microbiologist and army medical officer who served as the director of Unit 731, the largest biological warfare and chemical warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army. Ishii led the development and application of biological weapons at Unit 731 in the puppet state of Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945. This included the Battle of Changde, the Kaimingjie germ weapon attack, and the planned Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night biological attack against the United States, which intended to spread a weaponized bubonic plague. Ishii and his colleagues also engaged in human experimentation, resulting in the deaths of thousands of subjects, most of them civilians or prisoners of war. Ishii was later granted immunity in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East by the United States government in exchange for information and research for the U.S. biological warfare program.
Takakura Teru (Japanese: 高倉 輝, Hepburn: Takakura Teru; born Takakura Terutaka, Japanese: 高倉 輝豊; 14 April 1891 – 2 April…
Takakura Teru (Japanese: 高倉 輝, Hepburn: Takakura Teru; born Takakura Terutaka, Japanese: 高倉 輝豊; 14 April 1891 – 2 April 1986) was a Japanese novelist, playwright, politician and central committee member of the Japanese Communist Party from 1950 to 1951. Takakura graduated from Kyoto Imperial University and was a left-wing thinker of the Kyoto School. He was arrested several times under the Public Security Preservation Laws prior to the Allied occupation of Japan. In 1945 he fled parole to attend a funeral and was arrested along with Miki Kiyoshi, who he had gone to for clothes and money. This would inevitably lead to Miki's death in prison. Takakura however, following his release at the hands of the Allied Occupation, went on to become a politician for the Japanese Communist Party in 1946.
Tokubei Kuroda (黒田 徳米, Kuroda Tokubei; October 17, 1886 – May 15, 1987) was a Japanese scientist and academic. He is…
Tokubei Kuroda (黒田 徳米, Kuroda Tokubei; October 17, 1886 – May 15, 1987) was a Japanese scientist and academic. He is best known as a pioneering taxonomist and malacologist specializing in Japanese marine and terrestrial Mollusca.
Motonori Matsuyama (松山 基範, Matsuyama Motonori; October 25, 1884 – January 27, 1958) was a Japanese geophysicist who was…
Motonori Matsuyama (松山 基範, Matsuyama Motonori; October 25, 1884 – January 27, 1958) was a Japanese geophysicist who was (in the late 1920s) the first to provide systematic evidence that the Earth's magnetic field had been reversed in the early Pleistocene and to suggest that long periods existed in the past in which the polarity was reversed. He remarked that the Earth's field had later changed to the present polarity. The era of reversed polarity preceding the current Brunhes Chron of normal polarity is now called the Matuyama Reversed Chron; and the transition between them is called the Brunhes–Matuyama or Matuyama-Brunhes reversal.
Shintarō Hirase (平瀬 信太郎, Hirase Shintarō; February 28, 1884 – September 9, 1939) was a Japanese malacologist. His…
Shintarō Hirase (平瀬 信太郎, Hirase Shintarō; February 28, 1884 – September 9, 1939) was a Japanese malacologist. His father, Yoichirō Hirase, (1859–1925) was also a malacologist. With his father, he collected shells and helped formalize malacology in Japan. Due to their contributions to malacology, numerous species bear the Hirase name, such as Conus hirasei, . Hirase was born at Hukura on Awaji Island on February 28, 1884, and was the eldest son of Yoichirō Hirase. Growing up surrounded by his father's business and collection, he developed a lifelong love of malacology. He graduated from Third College and afterward took courses on psychology at the Faculty of Literature at Kyoto Imperial University (1910). In 1914 he matriculated to the faculty of Science, Tōkyō Imperial University, having passed an examination for the science courses at the First College. He received his master's degree from Tōkyō Imperial University in 1917 and continued post graduate work from 1917 to 1922. He was elected a member of the Malacological Society of London, of America, and of Germany. He was a founding member of the Malacological Society of Japan, alongside Tokubei Kuroda. He went on to teach natural sciences and zoology at Hōsei University, Meiji University, Seikei University, and Senshū University from 1920 until shortly before his death. In his obituary from the Proceedings of the Malacological Society of London, he was noted to be “without political interests and enthusiastically devoted to the study of mollusks.” His publications of note included a review of Japanese oysters, scaphopods, and a catalogue of Japanese shells with hand illustrated plates. Shintaro died on September 9, 1939, at age 55 at his home in Tōkyō after a short period of kidney failure. At its largest, the Hirase collection grew to 15,000 pieces. Prior to WWII, the collection was split to ensure its survival. One third was donated to various museums, including the Smithsonian, one third was kept at the house of Shintaro in Tokyo, and the last third was stored in the Research Institute for Natural Resources in Tokyo. The majority of the collection was destroyed during incendiary bombing of Tokyo during the war. Only 5000 pieces, mostly consisting of the minute marine specimens, the land specimens, and fresh water specimens, survived the war. The surviving pieces of the collection have been stored in the Research Institute for Natural Resources in Tokyo since 1948.
Kōsaku Hamada (濱田 耕作, Hamada Kōsaku; February 22, 1881 – July 25, 1938), also known as Seiryō Hamada, was a Japanese…
Kōsaku Hamada (濱田 耕作, Hamada Kōsaku; February 22, 1881 – July 25, 1938), also known as Seiryō Hamada, was a Japanese academic, archaeologist, author and President of Kyoto University.