Background
Suzuki Umetaro was born on 7 April 1874 in Shizuoka Prefecture.
Suzuki Umetaro was born on 7 April 1874 in Shizuoka Prefecture.
In 1896 he graduated from the agricultural chemistry course of Tokyo Imperial University. In 1901 he went to Europe and, under the guidance of Emil Fischer of Berlin University, a specialist in organic chemistry, devoted himself to studies of protein.
On his return to Japan in 1906 he became a teacher of the Morioka Agricultural and Forestry College and the following year was appointed a professor of Tokyo Imperial University.
In 1945 he received a Cultural Medal.
In 1910 he succeeded in extracting vitamin Bj from rice bran, giving it the name oryzanin. This discovery became the foundation for the science of vitaminology. In addition to his studies of vitamins and nutritional science, he also devoted himself to the development of insecticides and a preservative for saké and other wines.
In 1916 he participated as one of the founders of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research and in his capacity as chief researcher discovered a method for making synthetic saké and contributed in other ways to the advancement of science. His achievements were important not only in terms of pure research, but in their applicability to daily life, and as a pioneer in the fields of agricultural and biological chemistry he played an important role in improving the level of Japanese chemical research.
