Introduction

Michiyo Tsujimura: Hey there, are you someone who likes to know about prominent scientists of the last century? Well, you will be very interested in reading this one. Evidently, we are going to elaborately discuss about Michiyo Tsujimura in this detailed biography. Further, we are going to include about her life, career and much more. Also, we are going to talk about how google paid tribute to her legacy on her birthday last year. Indeed, this is going to be very informative for you. For the same reason you should read this till the end.

Who is Michiyo Tsujimura?

Indeed, Michiyo Tsujimura is a prominent and well recognized name in the world of science. Evidently, she was born on 17^th September 1888. Also, her birthplace was in Saitama Prefecture, Empire of Japan. Basically, she was famous for being a Japanese agricultural scientist. Meanwhile, she was also a biochemist. Furthermore, her research focused on various components of green tea. Indeed, her research on green tea has been very popular. Moreover, Michiyo Tsujimura was the first Japanese woman to get a doctoral degree in agriculture back then. In addition, in the occupational aspect she was an Agronomist as well as a biochemist. Unfortunately, she met her demise when she was 80 years of age. Specifically, she died on 1^st June 1969. Besides, her place of demise was located in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan.

Michiyo Tsujimura: Her early life & education

As has been noted, she was born in 1888. Moreover, her birthplace was in Saitama Prefecture. However, this place is now known as Okegawa. Further, her education started when she was attending Tokyo Prefecture Women’s Normal School. Evidently, she passed out and graduated from there in 1909. Thereafter, she started attending Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School. Meanwhile, she studied in the Division of Biochemical Science while she was there. Kono Yasui, a biologist taught her there. Besides, he was the one who spiked her interest in pursuing scientific research. She passed out from there in 1913. Thereafter, she became a teacher. In Kanagawa prefecture, she started teaching at Yokohama High School for women. However, she left teaching there after 5 years. Hence, in 1917 she came back to Saitama Prefecture. She joined as a teacher in Saitama Women’s Normal School.

Career of Michiyo Tsujimura in scientific research

As has been noted, Michiyo started teaching at Saitama Women’s Normal School in 1917. Thereafter, her career in scientific research began in the year 1920. This was when she started working at Hokkaido Imperial University. Evidently, she worked there as a Laboratory assistant. In fact, this university was known to not accept female candidates. Therefore, she was working at a position that was unpaid for. In the university’s department of Agricultural Chemistry, she worked in the Food Nutritional Laboratory. Specifically, she used to research on silkworms and their nutritional values.

Michiyo Tsujimura researched and experienced at various laboratories

Then, she got transferred in 1922 to the Medical College of Tokyo Imperial University. There she worked in the Medical Chemical Laboratory of the campus. However, this laboratory got destroyed due to the Great Kanto earthquake in September of 1923. After this mishappening she transferred in October 1923 as a research student in RIKEN. In RIKEN, she worked in the laboratory of Umetaro Suzuki who was a doctor of Agriculture. Also, he researched nutritional chemistry.

Michiyo Tsujimura: More about her journey in the world of science & her accomplishments involving green tea

While at RIKEN, in 1924 Michiyo Tsujimura along with her colleague managed to find Vitamin C in Green tea. Thereafter, they both released an article on their findings. The title of this article full of their research was titled “On Vitamin C in Green Tea”. Evidently, their research and findings were very useful. Indeed, their findings led to green tea exports increasing in number to North America. Furthermore, in 1929 she managed to isolate a component from green tea named “flavonoid catechin”.

Next year in 1930, she was able to extract “tannin” from green tea in a crystalized form. Evidently, Tokyo Imperial University gave her a doctorate in agriculture in 1932. This was due to her thesis titled “On the Chemical Components of Green Tea”. Hence, this made her to be the first woman in Japan who had received such a degree. Thereafter, she also extracted gallocatechin by isolating it from green tea in 1934. Meanwhile, in 1935, she successfully registered an patent on her method of extracting various vitamin C components from plants.

Michiyo Tsujimura: career towards the end, retirement & Google’s tribute to her legacy

In 1942, she got promoted to become a Junior Researcher at Riken. Whereas, in 1947 got further promoted to the post of Researcher. Also, she is known to become a professor at the newly established Ochanomizu University in 1949. However, in 1950 she went on to become a professor at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School. Evidently, she was the first dean of the faculty of Home Economics in this school.

Even though she got retired from Ochanomizu University in 1956, she still gave lectures on a part time basis till the year 1961. Furthermore, she was given a prestigious award in 1956 i.e., Japan Prize of Agricultural Science. This was given to her for her work and research on green tea. Later, she died at 80 years of age on 1^st June 1969 in Toyohashi. Google paid tribute to her legacy and celebrated her 133^rd birthday on September 16^th 2021. Lastly, Google did this by depicting a google doodle to her memory on that day.

Conclusion

In the end, we hope that reading this far proved to be interesting for you. Also, that this was informational. Evidently, we dived deep into detail in this biography on Michiyo Tsujimura. Therefore, there is hardly anything you could have missed out on. Indeed, she was a great contributor to agricultural science and will be remembered in the history. Lastly, if you enjoyed reading this blog you can also check out some of our other ones.

AUTHOR- Piyush Chauhan