Katsuko Saruhashi

Katsuko Saruhashi (猿橋勝子, Saruhashi Katsuko^?, March 22, 1920 – September 29, 2007) was a geochemist who made some of the first measurements of carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels in seawater and subsequently showed the evidence in seawater and the atmosphere of the dangers of radioactive fallout.

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Saruhashi was born in Tokyo and graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1943. In 1950, she started studying CO₂ levels in seawater and earned her doctorate in chemistry in 1957 from the University of Tokyo, becoming the first woman to do so. Instead of teaching school, as was expected at the time, Saruhashi wanted to do research. She then joined the Geochemical Laboratory established by Yasuo Miyake, a government meteorologist and her mentor.

At that time, CO₂ levels were not recognized as important; Saruhashi was not only the first person to study these levels worldwide, she also had to invent the methods for doing so.

She died September 29, 2007 of pneumonia at her home in Tokyo. She was 87. [1]

Results of nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll

After the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests in 1954, the Japanese government asked the Geochemical Laboratory to analyze and monitor radioactivity in the seawater and in rainfall. A Japanese fishing trawler had been downwind from the tests at the time they occurred, and its occupants became ill from the effects. Saruhashi found that it took a year and a half for the radioactivity to reach Japan in the seawater.

By 1964, the radioactivity levels showed that the western and eastern North Pacific ocean water had mixed completely, and by 1969, the traces of radioactivity had spread throughout the Pacific. This was some of the first research showing how the effects of fallout can spread across the entire world, and not just affect the immediate area. Later, in the 1970s and 80s, she turned her attention to studying acid rain and its effects.

• In 1958, she established the Society of Japanese Women Scientists.

• In 1979 she became director of the Geochemical Laboratory and was elected to the Science Council of Japan in 1980. In 1981, she won the Avon Special Prize for Women; in 1985, the Miyake Prize; and in 1993, the Tanaka Prize.

• In 1981, she established the Saruhashi Prize, given yearly to a female scientist who serves as a role model for younger female scientists.

Quote

"There are a lot of reasons why women don't go into science. The lack of equal opportunity is one. There is also the attitude of society, of parents, and [of] teachers. And there is little recognition of the contributions of women scientists."

References

• Yount, Lisa (1996). Twentieth Century Women Scientists. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-3173-8.
• Morell, Virginia et al. (April 16, 1993). Called 'Trimates,' three bold women shaped their field. Science, v260 n5106 p420(6).