Background
Hirata was born in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1915.
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Yoshimasa Hirata
Edit Profile平田 義正
Education
He received a Bachelor of Science from the Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) in 1941, and then joined the faculty there as a Lecturer of Chemistry. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from Nagoya University in 1949, and was promoted to Full Professor in 1954.
Career
In 1944, he moved to Nagoya University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. In that same year, he was promoted Associate Professor. In 1955, Hirata met a recent graduate from Nagasaki Pharmacy School, a young Osamu Shimomura.
He invited Shimomura to work in his lab, which he did, in April 1955.
Hirata tasked him with purifying crystalizing Cypridina luciferin for the purpose of determining its structure. He completed the difficult task after three months, and Hirata awarded him with a doctorate, despite him not being a doctoral student.
In 1979, Hirata moved to Meijo University, staying there for ten years before retiring. Hirata"s best known research was that involving toxic compounds, including tetrodotoxinpandalytoxin, his research of the bioluminescent compound Cypridina luciferin from the vargula hilgendorfii, also known as the sea firefly, and his work on bioactive compounds of plant plant origin, including anisatin, dendrobine, and daphniphylline.
1941 Chunichi Culture Prize.
Achievements
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Born
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Died
March 5, 2000 (aged 84) -
Nationality
Japanese