Birth of Chemical Journals in Japan2006/03/27: No.1; Birth of Chemical Journals in Japan
The Chemical Society was established on April 8, 1878, 128 years ago. Twenty-four chemists, including those who had just graduated from the Faculty of Science, the Imperial University of Tokyo,
and those who were still studying at school, participated in its establishment. In September 1898, the Department of Manufacturing Chemistry of the Science and Engineering College was founded
at Kyoto Imperial University. Four professors including Mitsuru Kuhara (the first president of the Tokyo Chemical Society), Hikorokuro Yoshida, Kenjiro Oda and Iwata Nakazawa were in charge of
respective courses, and all of them were members of the Chemical Society since its inauguration. The Chemical Society changed its name to the Tokyo Chemical Society in 1879, and the first
edition of Vol. I of the "
Journal of the Tokyo Chemical Society
" was published in 1880, under its then president Iwata Nakazawa. In that edition, two papers entitled the "
Analysis of Tea Manufactured in Japan
" by Jintaro Takayama and the "
Nomenclature Rules for Chemicals
" by Yoshimasa Koga were printed. These were scientific papers written vertically, which appears novel to present-day readers. Incidentally, the year of 1880 was the time when Thomas Edison
inaugurated the journal "Science." This coincidence helps to reinforce the tradition of chemical research in Japan. 2006/03/27: No.2; Extensive Development of Chemistry in Japan
Although the journals published by the Chemical Society of Japan included the "Chemical Record" under the cooperation of eight societies and corporations related to chemistry in 2001, the
environment surrounding the chemical society became rapidly severe due to the end of bubble economy. In particular, the "Journal of the Chemical Society of Japan" was unable to survive due to a
decrease in the number of contributions, and in March 2002 it had no choice but to cease publication. One possible reason may be an increase in the contribution of papers to English edition
journals as the level of research in Japan approached that of Europe and the USA. However, the main reason may be that without contributing papers to foreign journals that yielded a greater
influence, the acquirement of research funds was difficult and research results were not considered as a factor for promotion. However, presenting research results in the Japanese language is
still considered to be relevant. Examples of the original papers presented by Dr. Kenichi Fukui, which were printed in the Journal of the Chemical Society of Japan and the Journal of the
Society of Industrial Chemistry, can be still be found today. A well-known example is the "Aspects of Reactions of Carbenes and Their Complexes," which was featured in the Journal of the
Chemical Society of Japan Vol.87 (1966), p1261, and written by my well-respected teacher Professor Hitoshi Nozaki jointly with Professor Ryoji Noyori. This research led to the discovery of
asymmetric synthesis, which was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2001. I was a student at that time and I often used to think to myself "I hope I will be able to achieve such great
things as that one day." Carbene metal complex was later proven to be a key catalyst of olefin metathesis, and it received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in December 2005. I feel that it is very
important to recognize the foresight of researchers in Japan. I was fortunate enough to receive the opportunity to write several comprehensive and original papers in 1992 and 2000 in the
journal. In this way, I am aware of how the times have changed. |
