Hideyo Noguchi was born Nov. 24, 1876 in Inawashiro, Fukushima, Japan. Marc Jones only has the date and Japan in his notes; Britannica & his biography by Teppei Morita, the curator of the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Hall in Fukuskima Japan. A brilliant bacteriologist. Dr. Noguchi, made many discoveries, but it his isolating Treponema pallidum, the highly invasive pathogen a causative agent in all forms of syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), that placed his name among the great scientists and led ultimately to its cure.
Noguchi found the syphilis pathogen by examining the brain cell cultures expired afflicted persons. The only cure for this acquired disease is penicillin but it was not only another 50 years that Dr. Alexander Fleming (b. 1881) discovered that cure, so this was a disease in search of a cure and the great doctor wanted to do something of substantial importance to validate the faith and trust of his family and mentors.
A peasant destined for greatness
The Noguchi family were poor peasants for generations and Seisaku (清作), his youth name was destined along that path when Fate intervened at 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 someone who had been trained in Japanese traditional medical arts 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 severely burned, but I know not how badly.”
unknown attendant
And so Seisaku (清作) was not destined to be a peasant. Smart and hard working, his school teacher Sakae Kobayashi (小林栄), saw that the boy received a formal education by raising money from other teachers for Noguchi’s private education and then the modern medical treatment that allowed Noguchi to recover about 70 percent mobility and functionality.
Noguchi’s CV
Dr. Noguchi graduated in 1897 from a proprietary medical school in Tokyo and apprenticed himself to the surgeon, Dr. Watanbe, who had operated on him. In 1898 he changed his name to Hideyo after reading Shoyo Tsubouchi’s “Tosei Shosei Katagi” (Portraits of Contemporary Students where one student was Nonguchi Seisaku who the author protrayed as overcame many handicaps and showed great promise. Noguchi realized this was him and asked his mentor Mr. Kobayashi for advice of how to make this prophesy true. The esteemed teacher recommended the name, Hideyo “determination” as a talisman and so it was.
In 1900, he sailed from Yokohama port for Philadelphia Pennsylvania to work with the noted Dr. Simon Flexner who found the cure for spinal meningitis. While there, he apprenticed himself to Dr. Silas Mitchell for the study of snakes and their venom, where his work got him some amount of fame and a research grant to study under Dr. Thorvald Madsen in Copenhagen for advanced work in serology — the study of watery component (serum) of blood. After completing his studies, in 1904, he followed Flexner to the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York City, that would sponsor his work for next quarter of a century.
One of Noguchi’s most brilliant inventions was devising a method of how to cultivate microorganisms for chemical and microscopic study that previously could not be grown in the test tube (like syphilis). He and Flexner were able to reproduce in monkeys a nonfatal form of poliomyelitis and pass it from monkey to monkey, thus trapping the polio virus for laboratory study.
His final work was a vaccine for yellow fever, but while in the field in Accra Ghana Africa, he contracted the disease and died. He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx New York. His wife Mary survived him by 20 years and reposes by his side.
The Chart of Dr. Noguchi
. Dr. Noguchi is a bucket with a Neptune, duty, handle in the 8th house supporting his 3rd house stellium of his obligation to others until the point of death, a highly regarded Japanese trait. We are ignoring Pluto in the 9th as it was not discovered in 1930 just before the doctor died but does highlight his determination in transforming his and those around him lives.
The bottom south eastern portion of Noguchi’s chart depicts his secondary role to Dr. Simon Flexner, the lead scientist that actually propelled his Part of Initiative (2nd house aspect bottom chart). This could explain his decision to go to Ghana for independent research; Flexner OTOH never left NYC and the Rockefeller Institute.
Jones has several Arabian Parts listed in his Mundane Perspectives book though, incongruously, he applies it only to his own his chart. Jones allows a generous five-degree orb. In Noguchi’s cases, his Part of Conviction is aligned to his Part of Fortune at 4 Gemini that Dr. Gordon says ” this highlights someone who has a systematic & methodical approach to their personal vision. He will met great opposition from superiors and either conquers them or perishes trying.” And alas he did. The Sabian Symbol of 4 Gemini is “holly and mistletoe” a gift for fellow participation by suppressing his individuality for the greater good.
We routinely review our charts accuracy and completeness. This one was vetted on September 13, 2019.
