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The Most Famous

BIOLOGISTS from Japan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Japanese Biologists. The pantheon dataset contains 841 Biologists, 11 of which were born in Japan. This makes Japan the birth place of the 14th most number of Biologists behind Denmark and Czechia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Japanese Biologists of all time. This list of famous Japanese Biologists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Japanese Biologists.

Photo of Yoshinori Ohsumi

1. Yoshinori Ohsumi (1945 - )

With an HPI of 67.70, Yoshinori Ohsumi is the most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 62 different languages on wikipedia.

Yoshinori Ohsumi (大隅 良典, Ōsumi Yoshinori, born February 9, 1945) is a Japanese cell biologist specializing in autophagy, the process that cells use to destroy and recycle cellular components. Ohsumi is a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology's Institute of Innovative Research. He received the Kyoto Prize for Basic Sciences in 2012, the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and the 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.

Photo of Susumu Tonegawa

2. Susumu Tonegawa (1939 - )

With an HPI of 59.64, Susumu Tonegawa is the 2nd most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 53 different languages.

Susumu Tonegawa (利根川 進, Tonegawa Susumu, born September 5, 1939) is a Japanese scientist who was the sole recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987 for his discovery of V(D)J recombination, the genetic mechanism which produces antibody diversity. Although he won the Nobel Prize for his work in immunology, Tonegawa is a molecular biologist by training and he again changed fields following his Nobel Prize win; he now studies neuroscience, examining the molecular, cellular and neuronal basis of memory formation and retrieval.

Photo of Hideyo Noguchi

3. Hideyo Noguchi (1876 - 1928)

With an HPI of 56.59, Hideyo Noguchi is the 3rd most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 35 different languages.

Hideyo Noguchi (野口 英世, Noguchi Hideyo, November 9, 1876 – May 21, 1928), also known as Seisaku Noguchi (野口 清作, Noguchi Seisaku), was a prominent Japanese bacteriologist who in 1911 discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease.

Photo of Motoo Kimura

4. Motoo Kimura (1924 - 1994)

With an HPI of 53.88, Motoo Kimura is the 4th most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Motoo Kimura (木村 資生, Kimura Motō) (November 13, 1924 – November 13, 1994) was a Japanese biologist best known for introducing the neutral theory of molecular evolution in 1968. He became one of the most influential theoretical population geneticists. He is remembered in genetics for his innovative use of diffusion equations to calculate the probability of fixation of beneficial, deleterious, or neutral alleles. Combining theoretical population genetics with molecular evolution data, he also developed the neutral theory of molecular evolution in which genetic drift is the main force changing allele frequencies. James F. Crow, himself a renowned population geneticist, considered Kimura to be one of the two greatest evolutionary geneticists, along with Gustave Malécot, after the great trio of the modern synthesis, Ronald Fisher, J. B. S. Haldane, and Sewall Wright.

Photo of Takenoshin Nakai

5. Takenoshin Nakai (1882 - 1952)

With an HPI of 52.96, Takenoshin Nakai is the 5th most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Takenoshin Nakai (中井 猛之進, Nakai Takenoshin, November 27, 1882, Gifu Prefecture – December 6, 1952) was a Japanese botanist. In 1919 and 1930 he published papers on the plants of Japan and Korea, including the genus Cephalotaxus. During the Japanese occupation of the (former) Dutch East Indies (now: Indonesia) Takenoshin Nakai was between 1943 and 1945 the director of 's Lands Plantentuin in Batavia (now: Bogor Botanical Gardens in Bogor.

Photo of Tsuneko Okazaki

6. Tsuneko Okazaki (1933 - )

With an HPI of 49.25, Tsuneko Okazaki is the 6th most famous Japanese Biologist.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Tsuneko Okazaki (岡崎 恒子, Okazaki Tsuneko, born June 7, 1933) is a Japanese pioneer of molecular biology known for her work on DNA replication and specifically for discovering Okazaki fragments, along with her husband Reiji. Dr. Tsuneko Okazaki has continued to be involved in academia, contributing to more advancements in DNA research.

Photo of Tomitaro Makino

7. Tomitaro Makino (1862 - 1957)

With an HPI of 48.65, Tomitaro Makino is the 7th most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Tomitaro Makino (牧野 富太郎, Makino Tomitarō, April 24, 1862 – January 18, 1957) was a pioneer Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work. He has been called "Father of Japanese Botany", having been one of the first Japanese botanists to work extensively on classifying Japanese plants using the system developed by Linnaeus. His research resulted in documenting 50,000 specimens, many of which are represented in his Makino's Illustrated Flora of Japan. Despite having dropped out of grammar school, he eventually attained a Doctor of Science degree, and his birthday is remembered as Botany Day in Japan.

Photo of Katsuko Saruhashi

8. Katsuko Saruhashi (1920 - 2007)

With an HPI of 46.05, Katsuko Saruhashi is the 8th most famous Japanese Biologist.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Katsuko Saruhashi (猿橋 勝子, Saruhashi Katsuko, March 22, 1920 – September 29, 2007) was a Japanese geochemist who created tools that let her take some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in seawater. She later showed evidence of the dangers of radioactive fallout and how far it can travel. Along with this focus on safety, she also researched peaceful uses of nuclear power. Her other major area of significance involved raising the number and status of women scientists, especially in Japan. She established both the Society of Japanese Women Scientists and the Saruhashi Prize, which is awarded annually to a female scientist who serves as a role model for younger women scientists. Among her other honors, she was the first woman elected to the Science Council of Japan, to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the prestigious University of Tokyo, and to win the Miyake Prize for Geochemistry.

Photo of Bunzō Hayata

9. Bunzō Hayata (1874 - 1934)

With an HPI of 45.10, Bunzō Hayata is the 9th most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Bunzō Hayata (早田 文藏, Hayata Bunzō, December 2, 1874 – January 13, 1934) was a Japanese botanist noted for his taxonomic work in Japan and Formosa, present day Taiwan.

Photo of Tokiharu Abe

10. Tokiharu Abe (1911 - 1996)

With an HPI of 43.90, Tokiharu Abe is the 10th most famous Japanese Biologist.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Tokiharu Abe (阿部 宗明, Abe Tokiharu, 3 April 1911 – 9 August 1996) was a Japanese ichthyologist and a government official of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

Pantheon has 11 people classified as biologists born between 1862 and 1959. Of these 11, 4 (36.36%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living biologists include Yoshinori Ohsumi, Susumu Tonegawa, and Tsuneko Okazaki. The most famous deceased biologists include Hideyo Noguchi, Motoo Kimura, and Takenoshin Nakai. As of April 2022, 4 new biologists have been added to Pantheon including Tsuneko Okazaki, Bunzō Hayata, and Tokiharu Abe.

Living Biologists

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Deceased Biologists

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Newly Added Biologists (2022)

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Which Biologists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Biologists since 1700.