Here Come 5 Hideyos

Today I stepped in a Mizuho bank's ATM around Kanda Station. And I keyed my number in it and was surprised. Yes. You know hear comes Hideyo.


In this november 1st, Bank of Japan started to change bills against copying. And the new surface of 1000yen bill has a portrait of Noguchi Hideyo. He was a famous doctor and also bacteriologist. Who is he? It made me interested in him and I searched information about him.


*NOGUCHI Hideyo (1876-1928)*


In November 9th, 1876, Noguchi Hideyo was borned as a son of a poor farmer in Fukushima which is located in Tohoku area. He was named Seisaku. And when he was a child, his left hand was burned. People say he was impressed by Mr. Watanabe who had an operation on his and he'd like to be a doctor. After he graduated Inawashiro junior high school, he began to study medical science.


In 1896, when he was only 20 years old, he got a doctor license in Japan. And its 2 years later, he changed his name Seisaku to Hideyo. He worked at Kitazato institute for the study of infectious diseases. But most of his coworkers were elites who graduated Medical science School of Tokyo Imperial University. And he was regarded as a person without school education and treated coldy. Then, people who graduated TIU were abosolute elites and had tendencies to be snob.


But Dr. Noguchi met Prof. Simon Flexner as a interpreter when he visited Tokyo. Noguchi was very good at English and Dr. Kitazato found his talent. And Prof. Simon invited Noguchi and he got a job at the University of Pennsylvania in 1900. After that he got a job at Rockefeller Medical Institute. He was nominated three times for the Nobel prize in his life but not given. He got some medals from some western countries. In 1928, while Noguchi was studying yellow fever, he died of it at Ghana which is located in western Africa.


Here is an episode. Hideyo was very loose for money matters. He bilked his debt many times. I wonder that BOJ decided to print his portarait on 1000 yen bill. I feel it's a kind of jokes. And maybe there are many executives have a sense of humor. Yes, it's a joke too:)


*references*
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%87%8E%E5%8F%A3%E8%8B%B1%E4%B8%96
http://www.noguchihideyo.or.jp/page4.html
http://www.palnetwork.com/chie/1999/05/