The scientist who discovered vitamin C in green tea
Michiyo Tsujimura (17 September 1888 – 01 June 1969)
Michiyo Tsujimura (17 September 1888 – 1 August 1969) was a Japanese agricultural researcher and biochemist acknowledged on her study of green tea components. Along with her colleague Seitaro Miura, Tsujimura was the first to find out that green tea contains supplement C while she was a student at the RIKEN study institute. That discovery generated a rise in the popularity of green tea and consequently, a increase in green tea move from China to North America in the first 1900s. Tsujimura also separated and removed catechin, tannin and gallocatechin, elements with anticancer houses, from natural tea. Her study received her a PhD from the Tokyo Imperial College and Tsujimura became the first girl physician of agriculture in Japan. A separate instructor, Tsuijimura held teacher and lecturer positions at Ochanomizu College and Jissen’s Girls College, respectively. On her green tea study, she was awarded the China Treasure of Agricultural Research in 1956 and conferred the Order of the Important Crown of the Last Class in 1968.