北里柴三郎
Kiyoshi Shiga attended the Medical School of Tokyo Imperial University in 1896, after his high school studies. It was at the University when he was introduced to Kitasato Shibasaburō, one of Robert Koch's successors, who was a world famous Japanese scientist studying the bacteriology and immunology of deadly disease at the time. Shiga's fascination with Kitasato and his work lead him to pursue a career at the Institute for the Study of Infectious Diseases directed by Kitasato Shibasaburō. While working for the Institute, Shiga became famous for the discovery of "Shigella dysenteriae", the organism that causes dysentery, in 1897, during a severe epidemic in which more than 90,000 cases were reported, with a mortality rate approaching 30%. The bacterium "Shigella" was thus named after him, as well as the Shiga toxin, which is produced by the bacterium. After the discovery of "Shigella", Shiga worked with Paul Ehrlich in Germany from 1901 to 1905. When he returned to Japan, he resumed the study of infectious diseases with Kitasato. Shiga became a professor at Keio University in 1920. From 1929 to 1931, Shiga was the president of Keijō Imperial University in Keijo (Seoul) and was senior medical advisor to the Japanese Governor-General of Korea. Shiga was a recipient of the Order of Culture in 1944. He was also awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class, on his death in 1957. Along with many of his accomplishments, Shiga had written textbooks on bacteriology and immunology that were widely popular, even after his death in 1957.