Sahachiro Hata秦 佐八郎
Sahachiro Hata(1873-1938) was a bacteriologist who discovered antisyphilitic activity of arsphenamine at Paul Enrlich's laboratory.
Sahachiro was the 8th son of the Yamane family, born on March 23, 1873, in Tsumo village (a part of present-day Masuda city). At the age of 14, Hata, a doctor and a relative of Yamane, adopted Sahachiro as his legal heir.
In 1895, he graduated from the University of Okayama, Faculty of Medicine.
In 1898, Hata entered Kitazato Institute (the forerunner of Kitazato University) and studied epidemic diseases.
In 1904, he went to the southern part of Manshu (China) as an army doctor in the Russo-Japanese War.
In 1907, Hata attended the 14th International Congress for Hygiene and Demography in Berlin and stayed in Germany. He studied at the Robert Koch Institute, and later he moved to Paul Ehrlich's laboratory at the Royal Institute for Experimental Therapeutics in Frankfurt.
In 1909, Hata discovered antisyphilitic activity of arsphenamine, which Ehrlich had theorized by screening many compounds. The arsphenamine had the trade name of Salvarsan in 1910. It was the first organic antisyphilitic.
Hata Memorial Museum holds many pictures, letters, and books related with Hata.
Hata MEmorial Museum