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
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
Individual evidence
- ^ The Dutch book was a translation by William Henry , Epitome of Chemistry or Elements of Experimental Chemistry, 1800
personal data | |
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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 |