PHYSICIAN

Hiraga Gennai

1728 - 1780

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Hiraga Gennai (平賀 源内, born c.1729; died 1779 or 1780) was a Japanese polymath and rōnin of the Edo period. He was a pharmacologist, student of Rangaku, physician, author, painter and inventor well known for his Erekiteru (electrostatic generator), Kandankei (thermometer): 462  and Kakanpu (asbestos cloth): 67 . Gennai composed several works of literature, including the fictional satires Fūryū Shidōken den (1763),: 486-512  the Nenashigusa (1763),: 463-486 : 115-124  and the Nenashigusa kohen (1768), and the satirical essays On Farting: 393–9  and A Lousy Journey of Love.: 62-4  He also authored two guidebooks on the male prostitutes of Japan, the Kiku no en (1764) and the San no asa (1768).: 75  His birth name was Shiraishi Kunitomo, but he later used numerous pen names, including Kyūkei (鳩渓), Fūrai Sanjin (風来山人) (his principal literary pen name), Tenjiku rōnin (天竺浪人) and Fukuchi Kigai (福内鬼外). Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Hiraga Gennai has received more than 121,428 page views. His biography is available in 18 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 17 in 2019). Hiraga Gennai is the 371st most popular physician (up from 418th in 2019), the 804th most popular biography from Japan (up from 896th in 2019) and the 6th most popular Japanese Physician.

Memorability Metrics

  • 120k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 60.06

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 18

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 1.31

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.92

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among PHYSICIANS

Among physicians, Hiraga Gennai ranks 371 out of 726. Before him are Adolph Kolping, Garcia de Orta, Ali ibn Ridwan, Bénédict Morel, Robert Remak, and Claus Schilling. After him are Karl Genzken, Michael Maier, Walter Jackson Freeman II, Johann Kremer, Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin, and Prospero Alpini.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1728, Hiraga Gennai ranks 24. Before him are Kirill Razumovski, Matthew Boulton, Oliver Goldsmith, Samuel Wallis, Carlo Allioni, and Johann Andreas Stein. After him are Franz Xaver von Wulfen, Ferdinando Galiani, Maria Angela Ardinghelli, José Moñino, 1st Count of Floridablanca, Johann Gerhard König, and John Wilkinson. Among people deceased in 1780, Hiraga Gennai ranks 15. Before him are Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Victor Amadeus II, Prince of Carignano, Johann Ludwig Krebs, Kristijonas Donelaitis, and Ernest Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. After him are Luis Egidio Meléndez, William Blackstone, Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand, Princess Elisabeth Friederike Sophie of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and Francesco Antonio Vallotti.

Others Born in 1728

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Others Deceased in 1780

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In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Hiraga Gennai ranks 804 out of 6,245. Before him are Takizawa Bakin (1767), Oku Yasukata (1847), Kodama Gentarō (1852), Tatsuya Shiji (1938), Yasushi Inoue (1907), and Ryōkan (1758). After him are Megumu Tamura (1927), Akira Matsunaga (1914), Shojiro Sugimura (1905), Minoru Kobata (1946), Kujō Yoritsugu (1239), and Yūsaku Matsuda (1949).

Others born in Japan

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Among PHYSICIANS In Japan

Among physicians born in Japan, Hiraga Gennai ranks 6. Before him are Shirō Ishii (1892), Kitasato Shibasaburō (1853), Tasuku Honjo (1942), Hakaru Hashimoto (1881), and Shinya Yamanaka (1962). After him are Kusumoto Ine (1827), Shinobu Ishihara (1879), Kiyoshi Shiga (1871), Hiroshi Nakajima (1928), Kyusaku Ogino (1882), and Sunao Tawara (1873).

Japanese born Physicians

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