Sahachiro Hata
Sahachirō Hata was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who assisted in developing the Arsphenamine drug in 1909 in the laboratory of Paul Ehrlich.
He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 and for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1912 and 1913.Biography
Hata was born in Tsumo Village, Mino District, Shimane, and completed his medical education in Okayama. He studied epidemic diseases under the famous Kitasato Shibasaburō at Kitasato's Institute for the Study of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo, and later studied immunology at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin.
In Germany, Hata was invited to learn about chemotherapy at the German National Institute for Experimental Therapeutics in Frankfurt. In exchange, Hata was able to instruct his technique of infecting rabbits with Treponema pallidum and assist Paul Ehrlich in the discovery of arsphenamine, which proved effective in curing syphilis. It was called Salvarsan 606 because it was the 606th drug that Ehrlich tried.
After his return to Japan, Hata helped found the Kitasato Institute, of which he became a director. He also lectured at Keio University. In 1927, he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
