  , also known as , was a prominent japanese bacteriologist who in 1911 discovered the agent of syphilis as the cause of progressive paralytic disease. ==early life== noguchi hideyo was born in inawashiro, fukushima prefecture in 1876. when he was one and a half years old, he fell into a fireplace and suffered a burn injury on his left hand. there was no doctor in the small village, but one of the men examined the boy. "the fingers of the left hand are mostly gone," he said, "and the left arm and the left foot and the right hand are burned; i know not how badly." right|250px|thumb|hideyo noguchi and his mother shika in 1883 noguchi entered mitsuwa elementary school. thanks to generous contributions from his teacher kobayashi and his friends, he was able to receive surgery on his badly burned hand. he recovered about 70% mobility and functionality in his left hand through the operation. noguchi decided to become a doctor to help those in need. he apprenticed himself to , the same doctor who had performed the surgery. he entered saisei gakusha, which later became nippon medical school. he passed the examinations to practice medicine when he was twenty years old in 1897. he showed signs of great talent and was supported in his studies by dr. morinosuke chiwaki. in 1898, he changed his first name to hideyo after reading a novel about a doctor who had the same name â seisaku â as him. the doctor in the story was intelligent like noguchi but became lazy and ruined his life. ==career== in 1900 noguchi moved to the united states, where he obtained a job as a research assistant with dr. simon flexner at the university of pennsylvania and later at the rockefeller institute of medical research. he thrived in this environment.flexner, james thomas. (1996). [http://books.google.com/books?id=zhuqdmalx-4c&pg=pa51&dq=hide
1876_births 1928_deaths Deaths_from_yellow_fever Japanese_expatriates_in_the_United_States Japanese_microbiologists Japanese_physicians Knights_Grand_Cross_of_the_Order_of_Isabella_the_Catholic Knights_of_the_Order_of_the_Dannebrog Laureates_of_the_Imperial_Prize LA(c)gion_d\'honneur_recipients Order_of_the_Polar_Star People_from_Fukushima_Prefecture People_of_the_Empire_of_Japan Recipients_of_the_Order_of_the_Rising_Sun,_2nd_class