Sahachiro Hata

Hata Sahachiro (Japanese秦 佐 八郎; born March 23, 1873 in Tsumo, Mino -gun (now Masuda ), Japan, † November 22, 1938 in Tokyo ) was a Japanese scientist and bacteriologist.

Born as Yamane Sahachiro (山根 佐 八郎) he was adopted in 1887 by the Hata family. He attended the third high school, taught medical chemistry at the Inoue Zenjiro Internal Medicine and Araki Torasaburō. During his military service he conducted research at the Institute for Infectious Diseases ( now part of the University of Tokyo ) under Kitasato Shibasaburo of the plague.

In 1907 he went to Germany, where he first conducted research at the Robert Koch Institute under August von Wassermann, and then at the Institute for Experimental Therapy in Frankfurt as an assistant to Paul Ehrlich. Hata is best known for his contribution to the development of Arsphenamins, the first drug against syphilis. He was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize for medicine, but never got it.

The Society of Chemotherapy Japan awards each year named after a Sahachiro Hata and Kiyoshi Shiga award for research in this area.