Udagawa Yōan

Udagawa Yōan ( Japanese 宇田川榕菴 ; born March 9, 1798 in Edo ; † June 22, 1846 ) was a Japanese chemist and botanist.

Life

Udagawa came from a scholarly family, was the adopted son of Udagawa Shinsai (1769-1834), personal physician to the prince ( daimyō ) of Tsuyama and began to study western sciences ( Rangaku ) in 1815 , and after studying languages he mainly studied medicine, botany and chemistry, where he used Dutch books as was customary in Japan at that time (at that time only Chinese and Dutch were allowed to enter the country, which was very isolated from Udagawa during his lifetime). He also became acquainted with the teachings of the French founder of modern chemistry Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier , in particular his theory of oxidation and his chemical nomenclature. This was reflected in his textbook on chemistry from 1837 ( Seimi Kaisō , Introduction to Chemistry, 7 volumes, Edo / Tokyo: Seireikaku), the first Japanese chemistry textbook. Much of the content was application-oriented, for example with regard to glass production. He repeated the experiments using simple apparatus he had built himself (including a voltaic column ). He studied mineral springs and used galvanic electricity in medicine. A large part of the chemical names in Japanese comes from him, in particular he translated chemistry from Dutch as Seimi .

He also wrote botany textbooks (1822, 1833).

gallery

Description of the Voltaschen column in his textbook
Chemical experiments in his textbook

literature

S. Noma (Ed.): Udagawa Yōan . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993. ISBN 4-06-205938-X , p. 1641.
Winfried R. Pötsch (lead), Annelore Fischer, Wolfgang Müller: Lexicon of important chemists , Harri Deutsch 1989, p. 434
Tatsumasa Doke: Yoan Udagawa. A pioneer scientist of early nineteenth century Japan , Japanese Studies in the History of Science (JSHS), Volume 12, 1973, pp. 99-120
Eikoh Shimao: The reception of Lavoisier's chemistry in Japan , Isis, Volume 63, 1972, pp. 309-320

Web links

Diane Dolbashian: Udagawa Yoan and William Henry, Seimi Kaiso: A Japanese chemistry text in seven volumes, published in Edo (Tokyo), 1837, Corning Museum of Glass

Individual evidence

^ The Dutch book was a translation by William Henry , Epitome of Chemistry or Elements of Experimental Chemistry, 1800

personal data
SURNAME	Udagawa, Yōan
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	宇田川榕菴 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Japanese chemist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH	March 9, 1798
DATE OF DEATH	June 22, 1846

[1] The Dutch book was a translation by William Henry , Epitome of Chemistry or Elements of Experimental Chemistry, 1800