There, at the end of the 2nd row, is the first woman to achieve a bachelor of science in Japan.
Her name was 黒田チカ, Chika Kuroda (1884-1968) & she was the daughter of a samurai...1/6
When the university announced it would admit women, Kuroda was teaching at a Tokyo teaching college for women, that later became Ochanomizu University. She was one of 3 women who sat the entrance exam ... 2/6
When she presented her work on it to the Chemical Society of Japan 1918, she was the first woman to ever do that, too. She also published her first journal article that year.
From 1921 to 1923, she studied at Oxford University. This photo was taken in Oxford in 1922...3/6
There, she determined the molecular structure of shikonin, that purple pigment, and then the structure of carthamin. Carthamin gives safflower its color. She earned her doctorate with that work in 1929. That was just the second time a woman was awarded a PhD in science in Japan... 4/6
https://www.riken.jp/en/about/history/figures/
https://www.chemistryviews.org/chika-kuroda-the-pioneering-female-chemist-in-japan/
Later, she began studying onion skin, extracting crystals that were used to create an antihypertensive drug.
This photo shows Kuroda with fellow university faculty members in 1950: She's 2nd from right, with Yasui Kono in the center. When she & Kono retired in 1950, they established a fund for young students using the celebratory money they were given on their retirements... 5/6
Among other honors, she was awarded the emperor's Medal with Purple Ribbon, and was honorary president of the Society of Japanese Women Scientists. There's a Chika Kuroda prize at her alma mater.
6/6.
Read more about her life & work here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369258799_Kuroda_Chika_1884-1968_-_Pioneer_Woman_Chemist_in_Twentieth_Century_Japan/link/6412098b66f8522c38a89670/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19
