was an important Japanese plant

biochemist Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and Cell (biology), cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of ...

and

microbiologist A microbiologist (from Ancient Greek, Greek ) is a scientist who studies microscopic life forms and processes. This includes study of the growth, interactions and characteristics of Microorganism, microscopic organisms such as bacteria, algae, f ...

. He is notable for mid-twentieth century research he did on the thermodynamics of the light-independent reactions of photosynthesis.

Life

Tamiya was a student of Keita Shibata, a

plant physiologist Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology, of plants. Closely related fields include plant morphology (structure of plants), plant ecology (interactions with the environment), phytochemistry (bio ...

, as a student at Tokyo University. Andrew Benson, who was instrumental in understanding

carbon fixation Biological carbon fixation or сarbon assimilation is the process by which inorganic carbon (particularly in the form of carbon dioxide) is converted to organic compounds by living organisms. The compounds are then used to store energy and as ...

in plants considered Tamiya inspirational in his own success as a scientist. Tamiya worked and studied in Japan, Europe, and the United States, collaborating internationally with a variety of scientists. After World War II, during the Allied Occupation of Japan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Harry C. Kelly selected Tamiya to assist him in evaluating scientific research in Japan. The mission was largely in response to the destruction of cyclotrons by the United States Army acting out of fear the Japanese had been researching and developing a nuclear weapon during the war. One of the cyclotrons destroyed was an instrument that Tamiya required for his research. In 1953 Tamiya, working with other Japanese scientists, developed techniques for the synchronous culture of the

green algae The green algae (singular: green alga) are a group consisting of the Prasinodermophyta and its unnamed sister which contains the Chlorophyta and Charophyta/Streptophyta. The land plants (Embryophytes) have emerged deep in the Charophyte alga as ...

'' Chlorella'', a model organism used by Otto Heinrich Warburg whom Tamiya admired. Tamiya was able with it to culture algal cell lines that were all in the same developmental stage, a technique used by later scientists to decipher the life cycles of other single celled eukaryotic organisms. In 1966 Tamiya was made a foreign associate member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 1977 he was given the Japanese Order of Culture for his contributions to science in Japan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamiya, Hiroshi 20th-century Japanese botanists American phycologists Japanese phycologists 1903 births 1984 deaths Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences 20th-century American botanists