Hayaishi Osamu

Hayaishi Osamu ( Japanese 早 石 修 ; January 8, 1920 in Stockton , California ; † December 17, 2015 ) was a Japanese biochemist .

Life

Hayaishi studied medicine at Osaka University , where he earned his MD in 1942. He then did research there in the bacteriology department. In 1949/50 he was at the Institute for Enzyme Research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison , 1950 at the University of California, Berkeley , 1951/52 at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and from 1952 to 1954 Assistant Professor in the Medical School of the University of Washington in St. Louis . From 1954 to 1958 he headed the toxicology department of the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases of the National Institutes of Health. 1958 to 1983 he was professor of medicinal chemistry at Kyoto University . Between 1961 and 1963 he was Professor and Head of the Faculty of Biochemistry at the Medical School of Osaka University and 1970 to 1974 Professor and Head of the Faculty of Physiological Chemistry and Nutrition at the University of Tokyo . In 1983 he became director of Osaka Medical College, which he remained until 1989. From 1987 to 1998 he was director of the Osaka Bioscience Institute. From 2004 he was head of the Institute's Board of Trustees.

Hayaishi became known for his pioneering role in the study of oxygenase enzymes and their role in metabolism. He later also devoted himself to sleep research and the role of prostaglandins in inducing sleep.

Honors

In 1964, Hayaishi was awarded the Asahi Prize , and in 1969 elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In 1972 he was named Bunka Kōrōsha, a person with special cultural merits , and was also awarded the Imperial Order of Culture . In 1978 Osamu Hayaishi was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1986, Hayaishi received the Wolf Prize in Medicine. He was an external member of the National Academy of Sciences . Hayaishi received the Japanese Academy Award and the Order of the Sacred Treasure on the Great Ribbon. In 1999 he received the Distinguished Scientist Award from the World Federation of Sleep Research Societies (WFSRS). In 2004 he was elected a member of the learned society Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin .

Web links

• Homepage at the Osaka Bioscience Institute

Individual evidence

1. ↑ 京 大 名誉 教授 の 早 石 修 さ ん 死去 「酸 素 添加 酵素」 を 発 見
2. ^ American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Book of Members ( PDF ). Retrieved April 18, 2016
3. ↑ Member entry of Hayaishi Osamu (with picture) at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on January 11, 2017.

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . So Hayaishi is the family name, Osamu the first name.