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Hideyo Noguchi: Medical Researcher |
If you've been to Japan or seen Japanese money, you may have noticed the man on the 1000 yen bill. If you've ever been to the University City Science Center on 36th and Market Streets, you may have noticed a statue of the same man. His name is Hideyo Noguchi, and he is one of the best-known and most widely respected medical researchers of the 20th century. He was nominated for three Nobel Prizes, awarded medals from the kings of Denmark and Spain, and received numerous honorary degrees from universities all around the world. All this despite the fact that he did not attend college or medical school, nor did he receive training as a medical researcher in Japan.
Hideyo Noguchi was born in 1886 on a very poor farm in northern Japan. His father was addicted to alcohol and gambling, leaving Hideyo's mother to feed raise her family. One late afternoon while his mother was working out on the farm, the two-year-old sleeping Hideyo rolled into the fireplace, burning his body and crippling his left hand. This made it impossible for him to take up farming later, so his mother encouraged him to concentrate on his studies instead.
He worked extremely hard in school, and in middle school his teachers collected funds for him to see a doctor about his hand, and doctor named Kanae Watanabe was able to perform the operation. After his surgery, Hideyo regained some of the use of his left hand, and after graduation went to work as an apprentice for Dr. Watanabe. During this time, he not only learned as much as he could from the doctor, he also taught himself German, French, and English in order to read the medical books in Dr. Watanabe's library. In a few years' time, he was able to go to Tokyo for the two examinations required to practice medicine. He passed them both, being one of only four students out of eighty who were able to pass.
In December of 1900, Hideyo Noguchi came to Philadelphia to continue his study, and it was at the University of Pennsylvania that he began his medical research career. He volunteered himself as a lab worker, and was one of the researchers who discovered that the antidote for snake bites can be produced from snake venom. He established many basic immunological methods that are still being used today.
In 1904, Hideyo Noguchi moved to New York, and concentrated his research on syphilis, a disease not well understood at the time. He established a simple method for detecting the disease in its many forms. His research won him world-wide recognition, and he traveled extensively to assist other countries. In 1928, he died in Ghana from Yellow Fever, the disease he was studying at the time.
Interested in learning more about Hideyo Noguchi and Philadelphia's unique relationship with Japan? Phila-Nipponica: An Historic Guide to Philadelphia & Japan, a bi-lingual collection of articles on the Japan-Philly connection published by the JASGP, is available for purchase in our online store!
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