Google pays tribute to Japanese scientist Michiyo Tsujimura with a Doodle

New Delhi : Google on Friday gave a rich tribute to celebrate 133rd birthday of Japanese educator and biochemist Michiyo Tsujimura. She is the one who explained why green tea tastes bitter when steeped for too long.

Born on this day in 1888 in Okegawa, Saitama Prefecture, Japan, Tsujimura spent her early career teaching science. In 1920, she chased her dream of becoming a scientific researcher at Hokkaido Imperial University where she began to analyze the nutritional properties of Japanese silkworms.

After a couple of years, she was transferred to Tokyo Imperial University, where Tsujimura started her research on the biochemistry of green tea alongside Dr Umetaro Suzuki, famed for his discovery of vitamin B1. 

Their joint research revealed that green tea contained significant amounts of vitamin C-the first of many yet unknown molecular compounds in green tea that awaited under the microscope. In 1929, she isolated catechin - a bitter ingredient of tea.

Then, the next year she isolated tannin, an even more bitter compound. These findings formed the foundation for her doctoral thesis, "On the Chemical Components of Green Tea" when she graduated as Japan's first woman doctor of agriculture in 1932.

For her contribution to science and research, a stone memorial in honor of Dr.Tsujimura's achievements has been placed at her birthplace of Okegawa City.