Google Doodle On Michiyo Tsujimura: Synopsis Of Michiyo Tsujimura’s Life

• Michiyo Tsujimura did earn her the title of the first woman doctor of agriculture in Japan.
• She was born on September 17, 1888, in the city of Okegawa in the Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
• Michiyu Tsujimura died on June 1, 1969, at the age of 80.
• There is a stone memorial in Okegawa that celebrates her great accomplishments.
• Michiyo Tsujimura, who did in-depth research on green tea.
• Michiyo Tsujimura and her colleague Seitaro Miura discovered green tea to be a natural source of vitamin C.
• Tsujimura was awarded the Japan Prize of Agricultural Science in 1956 for her research on green tea.

She was conferred the Order of the Precious Crown of the Fourth Class in 1968.

The Google Doodle celebrating Michiyo Tsujimura’s 133rd birthday shows her studying and extracting the chemical components of green tea.

The attraction of the doodle was that a variety of research components, such as a tea shrub, a cup of green tea, a pen, a flask, and a notepad, were used to form the letters of ‘Google’.

Whatever she did throughout her life was predetermined but the most important job is to do true worship.

What Does Michiyo Tsujimura Name Mean?

Michiyo Tsujimura, is a Japanese name and Michiyo means “Era of beauty and wisdom” and Tsujimura is a Surname and means “Seven Reflections”.

Schooling, College & Teaching Years of Tsujimura

Tsujimura was born in 1888 in what is now Okegawa in Saitama Prefecture. She attended Tokyo Prefecture Women’s Normal School, graduating in 1909, and the Division of Science at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School. There she was taught by the biologist Kono Yasui, who inspired Tsujimura with an interest in scientific research.

She graduated in 1913 and became a teacher at Yokohama High School for Women in Kanagawa Prefecture. In 1917, she returned to Saitama Prefecture to teach at Saitama Women’s Normal School.

Tsujimura Was the First Woman Who Worked as a Laboratory Assistant

Tsujimura’s research career began in 1920 when she joined Hokkaido Imperial University as a laboratory assistant. At the time, the university did not accept female students, so Tsujimura worked in an unpaid position at the Food Nutritional Laboratory of the university’s Agricultural Chemistry Department.

Google Doodle on Michiyo Tsujimura: Tsujimura Discovered Vitamin C in Green Tea

She was transferred to RIKEN (Institute of Physical and Chemical Research is a large scientific research institute in Japan) as a research student in October 1923. She worked in the laboratory of Umetaro Suzuki, a doctor of agriculture, and researched nutritional chemistry. Tsujimura and her colleague Seitaro Miura discovered vitamin C in green tea in 1924, and published an article titled “On Vitamin C in Green Tea” in the journal Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry.

This finding contributed to an increase in green tea exports to North America. In 1929, Tsujimura isolated the flavonoid catechin from green tea. She extracted tannin in crystal form from green tea in 1930.

Google Doodle on Michiyo Tsujimura: Tsujimura’s Thesis Earned Her a Doctorate

Her thesis on the constituents of green tea, titled “On the Chemical Components of Green Tea”, earned her a doctorate in agriculture from Tokyo Imperial University in 1932, making her the first woman in Japan to receive such a degree. She went on to isolate gallocatechin from green tea in 1934 and registered a patent on her method of extracting vitamin C crystals from plants in 1935. She was in continuous progress in the field of research and worked as a professor and dean till she lived. She was a professor at Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School from 1950 and was the school’s first dean of the Faculty of Home Economics.

She was awarded the Japan Prize of Agricultural Science in 1956 for her research on green tea and was conferred the Order of the Precious Crown of the Fourth Class in 1968. She died in Toyohashi on 1 June 1969 at the age of 80.