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https://library.osu.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Exhibit_:_Historical_Perspectives_on_Modern_Japanese_Science,_October_6_-_31,_2011,_East_Atrium,_Thompson_Library

Selected Materials from The Ohio State University Libraries Collections on display in conjunction with the conference on

Science, Technology and Medicine in East Asia: Policy, Practice, and Implications in a Global Context

Mershon Center, October 7 - 9, 2011

Japanese collections include a wide range of resources supporting historical research on science, technology and medicine in Japan. Selected materials range from a course catalog that Ohio State’s Professor Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1841-1924) brought back from Tokyo University where he taught physics ca. 1878-1880, to a game highlighting the work of Nobel laureate Hideki Yukawa (Physics, 1949), to research resources about Japanese biological and chemical warfare, and books about the careers of Japanese women scientists.

Newspaper cartoons document Einstein’s visit to Japan in 1922, a cartoonist’s ideas about the future of the telephone (1924), popular awareness of scientific advances in the treatment of infectious diseases, and reactions to the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924 in the United States. With regard to the latter, an American citizen who was particularly incensed by the passage of that act, which excluded Japanese from American citizenship, was Elmer Sperry, a leading American engineer and businessman. As an organizer of the World Engineering Congress of 1929, he took the initiative to locate it in Tokyo.

The exhibit includes materials from that congress to which scientists and businessmen traveled from all over the world. The exhibit was mounted with the cooperation of many departments in the Libraries. It includes resources from Rare Books and the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, as well as from the general circulating collections.

Selected Works in the Exhibit

First electric light on the Ginza in Tokyo, 1882

An image of a woodblock print inserted in the company history of the Tokyo Electric Company, Ltd published in celebration of its 50th anniversary in 1940.

Yukawa Hideki – Japan’s first Nobel laureate (Physics, 1949)

Fukui, Japan’s first Nobel laureate in Chemistry in 1981 for contributions to chemical reaction theory.

Women Scientists of Japan

Infectious Diseases

In the early twentieth century discussion of research about infectious diseases in Japan was so widespread that it became part of political parlance. In this manga from 1922, Prime Minister Korekiyo Takahashi (1854-1936) is depicted as a doctor dealing with political issues as “infections.”

On the first shelf below, Shibasaburo Kitasato (1852-1931), Japan’s foremost bacteriologist, is depicted with Robert Koch (1843-1910), his mentor. Also shown are Paul Ehrlich and Kiyoshi Shiga, Kitasato’s colleague. Robert Koch visited Japan in 1908. Kitasato gained world fame for his work on tetanus and the co-discovery of natural immunity.

The second shelf contains two educational manga about Hideyo Noguchi (1876-1928), who discovered the spirochete that causes paresis, a psychotic disorder. The cover of one manga shows Noguchi with the Rockefeller Institute building in New York, where he conducted research, behind him. The other manga is open to a page showing his elation at achieving his important discovery while conveying the news to his wife, Mary, and his mentor, Simon Flexner (1863-1946), director of the Rockefeller Institute.

The third shelf contains examples of Japanese military research in bio-chemical weaponry. The 731 project was infamous for its experimentation on captive human subjects.

Prime Minister Korekiyo Takahashi (1854-1936) as a doctor

Shibasaburo Kitasato with Robert Koch, and Noguchi Hideyo

731

Yamagiwa Katsusaburo

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During World War I Yamagiwa and his associate, Ichikawa, became the first in the world to create cancer in the lab by painting coal tar on rabbits’ ears. The manga shows their research underway. Once Yamagiwa realized that he had succeeded, he composed a haiku in celebration which is quoted in J. Michael Bishop’s autobiography.

Thomas Corwin Mendenhall (1841-1924)

Mendenhall was the first professor appointed at the founding of the Ohio State University. Shortly thereafter, in 1878 he was invited to teach physics at Tokyo University, where he explored various physical phenomena, including gravity and the “magic mirror” (19th century romanization: MAKIO). Back at Ohio State, undergraduates chose that name for their student yearbook, with the conviction that a yearbook is a “mirror of student life” – and it continues to be published under that name until today. On exhibit is the first volume, which was published with the characters for “magic mirror” on the cover.

Also on exhibit is the course catalog of Tokyo University which Mendenhall brought back to Ohio State (Note: the 19th century romanization for Tokyo was TOKIO).

Telephone

The Immigration Act of 1924

The Immigration Act of 1924 effectively forbade Japanese from gaining citizenship in the US. The cartoon shows a smug Uncle Sam eating a California watermelon, while a Japanese farmer looks on from outside. Despite this legislation, communication in science, technology and medicine between Japanese and Americans actually continued until Pearl Harbor (December, 1941).

World Engineering Congress (Tokyo, 1929)

However, one American citizen who was particularly incensed by this political action was Elmer Sperry, a leading American engineer and businessman. Sperry, who had many friends in Japan, was deeply concerned about the deteriorating official climate between the US and Japan created as a result of the Immigration Act. Therefore, as an organizer of the World Engineering Congress, he took the initiative to locate it in Tokyo. Held in 1929, it was the first truly international meeting of its kind in Japan. The second shelf shows labels for conference attendees to use on their baggage during excursions arranged for them outside Tokyo that were printed in the conference proceedings, along with a guide prepared for them.

The Four Immigrants Manga

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The Four Immigrants Manga, on the left, portrays the life of Japanese immigrants to the US in the early twentieth century.

Einstein in Japan

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Albert Einstein visited Japan in 1922. He learned of his Nobel prize shortly before or upon arriving in Japan, as shown on the page opened in the manga book. The passengers on the train in the newspaper cartoon are discussing Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Related Resources and Links

• The East Asian Studies Center Newsletters, Autumn, 2011, pp.4-5

• from NewsNotes October 19, 2011, The Ohio State University Library, p.8

• Jiji Manga Wiki Main Page

• Age of Tomorrow Wiki Main Page