Katsuko Saruhashi, the Pioneering Japanese Female Geochemist.
Thursday’s Google Doodle celebrates pioneering geochemist Katsuko Saruhashi on what would have been her 98th birthday.
Her groundbreaking research focused on acid rain, radioactivity spread through oceans, and CO2 levels in seawater.
As a female scientist working in the 1950s and 60s, Saruhashi broke many glass ceilings: She was the first woman to earn a PhD in chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1957, the first woman elected to the Science Council of Japan in 1980, and the first woman to win the Miyake Prize for geochemistry in 1985, an award named after her mentor, Miyake Yasuo. To promote more women in the science, Saruhashi also started the Society of Japanese Women Scientists in 1958 with an mission to have more women contributing to sciences and world peace.
Much before the world began rallying for equality and the rights of women, a Japanese geochemist inspired women to pursue science. She said, "There are many women who have the ability to become great scientists. I would like to see the day when women can contribute to science and technology on an equal footing with men."
Katsuko Saruhashi was born on 22 March, 1920 in Tokyo. Her given name, Katsuko, literally translates to being strong-minded or victorious. She went on to graduate from the Imperial Women's College of Science in 1943 and joined the Meteorological Research Institute and worked in its Geochemical Laboratory.
Katsuko Saruhashi made some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in seawater. A pioneer in her field, Dr Saruhashi was also the first to measure radioactive material in seawater. This was one of the scientific reasons for not conducting nuclear bomb experiments in the Pacific Ocean.
Katsuko Saruhashi was the first woman to earn a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Tokyo in 1957.
Katsuko Saruhashi made some ground-breaking discoveries as a geochemist. She developed her own measuring table named Saruhashi's Table to determine the quantity of carbonic acid in water, based on temperature, pH level, and chlorinity. She was also a forerunner in nuclear research, developing methods to trace radioactive fallout across oceans. Her findings resulted in restrictions over oceanic nuclear experimentation in 1963.
In March 1954, a series of high-yield nuclear tests were conducted by the Joint Task Force of United States at Bikini Atoll. The occupants of a Japanese fishing trawler, which was downwind when the tests were carried out, were affected by the radiations. This prompted the Japanese government to ask the Geochemical Laboratory to examine and observe the levels of radioactivity it caused in the seawater and in rainfall. Dr Saruhashi worked on this to find that it took a year and a half for the radioactivity to reach Japan seawater. This was some of the first researches showing how the effects of fallout can spread across the globe.
Dr Saruhashi, who was drawn to science from her fascination and curiosity about raindrops, turned her attention to studying acid rain and its effects in the 1970s and 1980s.
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