astronomy

Yamagiwa Katsusaburō

Yamagiwa Katsusaburō is a astronomy 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō rather than just read about it. In short: Yamagiwa Katsusaburō (山極勝三郎; 23 February 1863 – 2 March 1930) was a Japanese pathologist who carried out pioneering work into the causes of cancer, and was the first to demonstrate chemical carcinogenesis. He was a 7-time Nobel Prize nominee.

Key takeaways

Yamagiwa Katsusaburō belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Yamagiwa Katsusaburō to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Yamagiwa Katsusaburō from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Yamagiwa Katsusaburō (山極勝三郎; 23 February 1863 – 2 March 1930) was a Japanese pathologist who carried out pioneering work into the causes of cancer, and was the first to demonstrate chemical carcinogenesis. He was a 7-time Nobel Prize nominee.

Life Yamagiwa was born in Ueda, Nagano, the third son of the feudal retainer of the Ueda Domain in Shinano Province. He became the adopted son-in-law of Yoshiya Yamagiwa, a physician in Katsuya, Tokyo, and took the surname Yamagiwa. He completed his MD in 1888 from Imperial University of Tokyo. He was appointed as a professor at the Medical School, Imperial University of Tokyo and published his landmark work, Byōri Sōron Kōgi, in 1895. Yamagiwa extensively promoted cancer research in Japan. In 1907 Cancer Science, peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in oncology, was first issued by him. In addition, he and his colleagues found the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in 1908. He died in Tokyo of pneumonia in 1930 at the age of 67.

Contributions In a series of experiments conducted in 1915, Yamagiwa and his assistant Kōichi Ichikawa (1888–1948) induced squamous cell carcinomas on the ears of rabbits using coal tar, demonstrating the latter's carcinogenic properties.

Recognitions Yamagiwa and Ichikawa shared the Japan Academy Prize in 1919 for their work. The 1926 Nobel Prize went to Johannes Andreas Grib Fibiger, for his discovery of Spiroptera carcinoma, a microbial parasite which Fibiger claimed was the cause of cancer. This "finding" was discredited by other scientists shortly thereafter. In 1915, Katsusaburo Yamagiwa had successfully induced squamous cell carcinoma by painting crude coal tar on the inner surface of rabbits' ears. Yamagiwa's work has become the primary basis for this line of research. Because of this, some people consider Fibiger's Nobel Prize to be undeserved, particularly because Yamagiwa never received the prize for his work. In 1966, the former committee member Folke Henschen advocated that Yamagiwa deserved the Nobel Prize, but it was not realized.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Yamagiwa Katsusaburō

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Yamagiwa Katsusaburō claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō

In research: Yamagiwa Katsusaburō appears in astronomy 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō 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: Yamagiwa Katsusaburō is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1863 births, 1930 deaths, 19th-century Japanese medical doctors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Yamagiwa Katsusaburō 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Yamagiwa Katsusaburō means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Yamagiwa Katsusaburō out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Yamagiwa Katsusaburō in simple terms?

Why does Yamagiwa Katsusaburō matter?

Because it connects several astronomy 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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō?

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 Yamagiwa Katsusaburō.