www.asiachem.news December 2021 | 91 scientists. However, we should remember that some 30% of the American Nobel Prizes in science went to scientists born and educated in other countries, and many of them are ethnic Asians. That statistic suggests that Asian education, experience, and culture foster creativity and ambition. I believe that Israel’s success in science and technology also stems from the strong emphasis on mathematical thinking in schools, regardless of the field. A successful science career needs explicit and implicit knowledge, which is strongly affected by cultural background. English and American science, French la science, German Wissenschaft, and Japan’s Kagaku are all different. “Indigenous” knowledge or wisdom is essential for unique achievements. Asian scientists exposed to diverse social environments have thus great potential. Japan was in the hinterland during my youth, but we enjoyed rich nature and freedom. In contrast, today’s children who live in modern cities enjoy comfort life, but they live in a restricted, artificial space, and they like it. I feel that we are losing our blessed tradition. I started my undergraduate studies at Kyoto University in 1957, only 12 years after WWII. Thus, we came up from Ground Zero or, more precisely, Ground Minus Ten. Since Japan’s economic situation was far behind North America and Europe, the government intended to rapidly revive industrial productivity by nurturing a young workforce rather than promoting science that typically requires a much longer effort. This policy was not good, but quite understandable. Consequently, the size of Chemistry Depar tments wi thin the Facul t ies of Engineering, like the one I attended, became much more significant than those in the Faculties of Science. In the Japanese system, we have different chemistry departments, some belong to the faculties of Engineering, Agriculture, or Pharmacy, and others belong to the Faculty of Science. In the third year of my undergraduate course, we studied organic chemistry using Fieser’s textbook, “Introduction to Organic Chemistry,” which changed my interest from polymer chemistry to organic chemistry. In the following year, in 1960, I joined Professor Keiiti Sisido’s laboratory at the Department of Industrial Chemistry for further experimental training. Associate Professor Hitosi Nozaki has become my guide and mentor from this starting point. The laboratory environment at that time was very hospitable. Although Japan’s economy improved, the academic research and education labs were lagging. At the organic chemistry laboratories, we determined the structures of organic compounds mainly by elemental analysis. The hand-operated Beckman UV–visible spectrometer was the sole reliable spectroscopic tool, and we had only one IR spectrometer on the entire university. As neither silica gel nor active alumina was available for column chromatography, we obtained analytically pure substances by recrystallization or by making crystalline derivatives. We purified oily compounds by large-scale distillation or steam distillation. Since only a few solvents and reagents were commercially accessible, we synthesized common chemicals and solvents, including benzophenone, triphenylphosphine, diborane, and dimethoxyethane. We conducted reactions on a relatively large scale, which required high skill. We studied very hard in the department library. Chemical Abstracts was indispensable because access to original literature was limited. We read the literature more seriously than students of our time because photocopying machines were unavailable. We had to generate an abstract or take full notes after reading the article from beginning to end. With such inefficiency, the research progress was extremely slow. Nevertheless, students were highly motivated and enjoyed free speculations despite the limited knowledge. The undergraduate course in all Japanese universities included practical research in the 4th year through an apprenticeship in various laboratories. In the 1960s, more than half of the B.Sc. graduates pursued industrial careers. Some students continued their graduate training under the same mentor, typically a two-year master’s and three-year doctor’s course. The science Noyori group at Nagoya in 1991. Front row, left: Masato Kitamura, right: Ryōji Noyori. From left to right: Ryōji Noyori, K. Barry Sharpless, and Robert H Grubbs (2005 Nobel laureate) watched “sumo” wrestling in the National Sports Hall in Tokyo. In September, 1996.
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