chemistry

Osamu Shimomura

Osamu Shimomura is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Osamu Shimomura rather than just read about it. In short: Osamu Shimomura (下村脩, Shimomura Osamu; August 27, 1928 – October 19, 2018) was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, and professor emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University School of Medicine. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with two American scientists: Martin…

Key takeaways

Osamu Shimomura belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Reference excerpt

Osamu Shimomura (下村脩, Shimomura Osamu; August 27, 1928 – October 19, 2018) was a Japanese organic chemist and marine biologist, and professor emeritus at Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts and Boston University School of Medicine. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein (GFP) with two American scientists: Martin Chalfie of Columbia University and Roger Tsien of the University of California-San Diego.

Biography

Born in Fukuchiyama, Kyoto in 1928, Shimomura was brought up in Manchukuo (Manchuria, China) and Osaka, Japan while his father served as an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army. Later, his family moved to Isahaya, Nagasaki, 25 km from the epicenter of the August 1945 atomic bombing of the city. He recalled hearing, as a 16-year-old boy, the bomber plane Bockscar before the atom bomb exploded. The explosion flash blinded Shimomura for about thirty seconds, and he was later drenched by the "black rain" bomb fallout. He overcame great odds in the following 11 years to earn an education and achieve academic success. Shimomura's education opportunities were starkly limited in devastated, post-war Japan. Although he later recalled having no interest in the subject, he enrolled in the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Nagasaki Medical College (now Nagasaki University School of Pharmaceutical Sciences). The Medical College campus had been entirely destroyed by the atomic bomb blast, forcing the pharmacy school to relocate to a temporary campus near Shimomura's home. This proximity was the fortuitous reason he embarked upon the studies and career which would ultimately lead to unanticipated rewards. Shimomura was awarded a BS degree in pharmacy in 1951, and he stayed on as a lab assistant through 1955. Shimomura's mentor at Nagasaki helped him find employment as an assistant to Professor Yoshimasa Hirata at Nagoya University in 1956. While working for Professor Hirata, he received a MS degree in organic chemistry in 1958 and, before leaving Japan for an appointment at Princeton University, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1960 at Nagoya University. At Nagoya, Hirata assigned Shimomura the challenging task of determining what made the crushed remains of a type of crustacean (Jp. umi-hotaru, lit. "sea-firefly", Vargula hilgendorfii) glow when moistened with water. This assignment led Shimomura to the successful identification of the protein causing the phenomenon, and he published the preliminary findings in the Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Japan in a paper titled "Crystalline Cypridina luciferin." The article caught the attention of Professor Frank Johnson at Princeton University, and Johnson successfully recruited Shimomura to work with him in 1960.

Studies Shimomura worked in the department of biology at Princeton for Professor Johnson to study the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea victoria, which they collected during many summers at the Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washington. In 1962, their work culminated in the discovery of the proteins aequorin and green fluorescent protein (GFP) in A. victoria; for this work, he was awarded a third of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008.

Family His wife, Akemi, whom Shimomura met at Nagasaki University, is also an organic chemist and was a partner in his research activities. Their son, Tsutomu Shimomura, is a computer security expert who was involved in the arrest of Kevin Mitnick. Their daughter, Sachi Shimomura, is director of Undergraduate Studies for the English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University and the author of Odd Bodies and Visible Ends in Medieval Literature.

Death Shimomura died on October 19, 2018, of cancer in Nagasaki.

Recognition 2004 – Pearse Prize, Royal Microscopical Society 2005 – Emile Chamot Award 2006 – Asahi Prize 2008 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2008 – Order of Culture 2008 – Person of Cultural Merit 2012 – Golden Goose Award 2013 – Member of the United States National Academy of Sciences 2018 – Junior third rank (posthumous)

Selected publications Books

Bioluminescence: Chemical Principles And Methods (Revised ed.). World Scientific Publishing Company. 2012. ISBN 978-981-4366-08-3. クラゲに学ぶ : ノーベル賞への道 [Learning from Jellyfish: The Path to the Nobel Prize] (in Japanese). Nagasaki Literature. 2010. ISBN 978-4-88851-157-5. Papers

Yasanuga, Shungo; Shimomura, Osamu (July 1954). 無機クロマトグラフィーに関する研究 (第6報):滬紙通電クロマトグラフィーの装置について [Studies on Inorganic Chromatography (Part 6): Apparatus for Electrochromatography on Paper]. Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan. 74 (7): 778–780. doi:10.1248/yakushi1947.74.7_778. ISSN 0031-6903. Shimomura, Osamu (1955). 口紙電気泳動に関する研究 (第3報) 難溶性塩および錯イオンの生成時における濃度-泳動度曲線について [Study on Oral Electrophoresis (Part 3) Concentration-Magnetic Mobility Curves in Formation of Poorly Soluble Salts and Complex Ions]. Chemistry Journal of Japan. 76 (9): 973–977. doi:10.1246/nikkashi1948.76.973. ISSN 0369-5387. Shimomura, Osamu (1955). アニリン誘導体およびフェエノール誘導体のロ紙電気泳動について [Study on Oral Electrophoresis of Aniline Derivatives and Phenol Derivatives]. Chemistry Journal of Japan. 76 (3): 277–281. doi:10.1246/nikkashi1948.76.277. Hirata, Yoshimasa; Eguchi, Shoji; Shimomura, Osamu (October 17, 1959). 海ホタルルシフェリンの構造 [Structure of Sea Firefly Luciferin]. Proceedings of the Symposium on Natural Organic Compounds. 3: 83–93. doi:10.24496/tennenyuki.3.0_83. Shimomura, Osamu (1960). 海ホタルルシフェリンの構造(第2～3報) (第2報)海ホタルルシフェリンの性質および分子式について [Structure of Sea Firefly Luciferin (Part 2–3) (Part 2) Properties and Molecular Formula of Sea Firefly Luciferin]. Chemistry Journal of Japan. 81 (1): 179–182. doi:10.1246/nikkashi1948.81.179. Shimomura, Osamu (1960). 海ホタルルシフェリンの構造(第2～3報) (第3報)海ホタルルシフェリンおよびヒドロルシフェリンの推定構造 [Structure of Sea Firefly Luciferin (Parts 2–3) (Part 3) Predicted Structures of Sea Firefly Luciferin and Hydroluciferin]. Chemistry Journal of Japan. 81 (1): 182–185. doi:10.1246/nikkashi1948.81.182. 緑色蛍光たんぱく質GFPは天の恵みか? [Is green fluorescent protein GFP a godsend?]. Acta Anatomica Nipponica. 85 (3). September 1, 2010. 99-106.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Osamu Shimomura

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Osamu Shimomura claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Osamu Shimomura before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Osamu Shimomura ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Osamu Shimomura

In research: Osamu Shimomura appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Osamu Shimomura in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Osamu Shimomura is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1928 births, 2018 deaths, Boston University School of Medicine faculty, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Osamu Shimomura outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Osamu Shimomura in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Osamu Shimomura means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Osamu Shimomura in simple terms?

Why does Osamu Shimomura matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Osamu Shimomura?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Osamu Shimomura.