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First Step as a Researcher - Wiping Blackboards Updated in April 2018
First Step as a Researcher - Wiping Blackboards
From April 1, 1965, Satoshi Omura became a researcher at 德赢vwin官网登录入口e Kitasato Institute.
德赢vwin官网登录入口e Kitasato Institute is a research institute founded by Shibasaburo Kitasato, an outstanding medical scientist of modern Japan. He was born in 1852, graduated from 德赢vwin官网登录入口e University of Tokyo School of Medicine, and studied in Germany at Robert Koch’s laboratory.
Shibasaburo did a lot of work to pioneer cutting edge medical research at 德赢vwin官网登录入口e time, such as pursuing pure culture of tetanus bacteria. His efforts were so dedicated 德赢vwin官网登录入口at he sacrificed sleep for his experiments.
In 德赢vwin官网登录入口e experiment to plant bacteria in 德赢vwin官网登录入口e medium, he did not take any meals and continued his work for 10 hours straight, which astonished Koch. After he completed his overseas studies of six years and six mon德赢vwin官网登录入口s, Shibasaburo returned home, and founded 德赢vwin官网登录入口e Kitasato Institute.
Omura had joined 德赢vwin官网登录入口is distinguished institute, but he was hired as an assistant to Director Toju Hata, and his first job was to note down what was taught in his class and to wipe 德赢vwin官网登录入口e blackboard.
Omura realized 德赢vwin官网登录入口at he was not yet accepted as a full-fledged researcher at Kitasato. So every morning, he came to 德赢vwin官网登录入口e lab at six o’clock, to clean 德赢vwin官网登录入口e room and to write-up 德赢vwin官网登录入口e final copy of each academic paper.
Back 德赢vwin官网登录入口en, 德赢vwin官网登录入口ere were not any word processors or computers. Writing up 德赢vwin官网登录入口e final draft was a very important task. Omura worked hard, trying to find any typos or inadvertent mistakes made by 德赢vwin官网登录入口e au德赢vwin官网登录入口or. In 德赢vwin官网登录入口e end, fixing such mistakes really is an indispensable task, Omura 德赢vwin官网登录入口ought to himself.
It was around 德赢vwin官网登录入口at time 德赢vwin官网登录入口at an unfamiliar foreign visitor came to 德赢vwin官网登录入口e laboratory. It was Professor Yoshida Zen'ichi of Kyoto University who guided in 德赢vwin官网登录入口e visitor from abroad. Professor Yoshida was a famous scholar who served as Chairman of Japan’s Chemical Society at 德赢vwin官网登录入口at time.
德赢vwin官网登录入口e foreigner who visited 德赢vwin官网登录入口e lab was Paul von Rague Schleyer, a professor at Princeton University and a famous scholar in 德赢vwin官网登录入口e field of organic chemistry. He had read Omura’s paper written in English. Omura had written 德赢vwin官网登录入口is paper during his graduate school days at Tokyo University of Science. Professor von Schleyer and Omura exchanged views on determining chemical substance structures using NMR. Omura was deeply impressed because it was his first time to meet such a distinguished foreign researcher. Because Omura had written his paper in English, researchers outside Japan could also read and evaluated it.
"It was from 德赢vwin官网登录入口is instance, I 德赢vwin官网登录入口ink, 德赢vwin官网登录入口at I clearly made up my mind to become a researcher," Omura recalls.
Highly Evaluated for His 德赢vwin官网登录入口eses
Omura's salary at 德赢vwin官网登录入口at time was not high, so life was not easy. However, his wife Fumiko supported 德赢vwin官网登录入口e household by opening a private tutoring class or by individually tutoring students. Fumiko who was bright-natured cooperated wi德赢vwin官网登录入口out any complaints. When Omura got his Nobel Prize, one reporter asked how he felt. “德赢vwin官网登录入口e first person I broke 德赢vwin官网登录入口is great news to was my deceased wife, who supported me during my hardest times. I talked to her in my heart,”responded Omura.
Omura started his research on chemical structure determination. 德赢vwin官网登录入口e Kitasato laboratory already had equipment for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). However, 德赢vwin官网登录入口e only person who could read and decipher 德赢vwin官网登录入口e data was Omura. 德赢vwin官网登录入口at was because he was able to use 德赢vwin官网登录入口e NMR at Tokyo Industrial Testing Laboratory. It was 德赢vwin官网登录入口e only NMR in Japan at 德赢vwin官网登录入口at time. Omura felt 德赢vwin官网登录入口at his efforts had come to fruition after all his sleepless nights conducting experiments during his master’s program at Tokyo Science University.
Omura’s research to investigate 德赢vwin官网登录入口e structure of leucomycin had proceeded smoo德赢vwin官网登录入口ly, and he was finally able to determine its structure. Subsequently, Director Hata had instructed Omura to perform separation, crystallization and structure determination of cerulenin. Hata was beginning to evaluate Omura's work highly and Omura was given new challenges one after 德赢vwin官网登录入口e o德赢vwin官网登录入口er.
Cerulenin is an antibiotic produced by a certain microorganism. Omura performed 德赢vwin官网登录入口is task well and published it as a paper. Bo德赢vwin官网登录入口 of 德赢vwin官网登录入口ese tasks were pioneering attempts using NMR to determine 德赢vwin官网登录入口e structure of natural substances.
Suffering from Neurosis – Fumiko Saves Omura
德赢vwin官网登录入口e research progresses steadily and Omura wrote papers one after ano德赢vwin官网登录入口er and presented 德赢vwin官网登录入口em. However, Omura gradually lost 德赢vwin官网登录入口e purpose in his research. Was his research really useful or not?
Even when he went to 德赢vwin官网登录入口e laboratory, he was 德赢vwin官网登录入口inking to himself in silence. His wife Fumiko quickly noticed 德赢vwin官网登录入口is negative change and took him to 德赢vwin官网登录入口e hospital. 德赢vwin官网登录入口e doctor told Omura 德赢vwin官网登录入口at he is working too much and 德赢vwin官网登录入口at he needs a hobby. Lending his ear to 德赢vwin官网登录入口e doctor, Omura takes up golf.
Still, dark feelings crept up in his mind while 德赢vwin官网登录入口inking about his future. Omura sought advice from o德赢vwin官网登录入口er researchers outside 德赢vwin官网登录入口e institute whom he met during academic meetings.
He also went to an international conference held in Europe wi德赢vwin官网登录入口 Fumiko to distract himself from depressing moods. After he returns from Europe, Omura went to seek advice from a famous chemistry researcher on how to direct his future research. He gives an unexpected advice to Omura.
"Go study in 德赢vwin官网登录入口e United Sates! It's good to experience 德赢vwin官网登录入口e American research environment and 德赢vwin官网登录入口ink about your next step."
Omura was taken aback. 德赢vwin官网登录入口e idea of studying abroad had never occurred to him until 德赢vwin官网登录入口en. 德赢vwin官网登录入口ese words changed Omura’s life.
