Haratama - Gratama, Koenraad Wolter

Japanese: ハラタマ - Ｇｒａｔａｍａ，ＫｏｅｎｒａａｄＷｏｌｔｅｒ

Year of death: 1888.1.19 (1888.1.19)
Born: April 25, 1831
A Dutch chemist and army surgeon who came to Japan at the end of the Edo period. He contributed to the founding of physics and chemistry education in Japan. Born in Assen, the Netherlands, he graduated from Utrecht University with degrees in natural sciences and medicine. In 1865, the Nagasaki Yojosho was renamed Seitokukan, and when the Bunseki Kenrisho was separated from it, he came to Japan in February 1866 to become a full-time teacher there. There he taught physics and chemistry through experiments, and was later welcomed into the Kaiseisho of the Edo Shogunate, but due to the chaos of the Meiji Restoration period, he was unable to give any lectures. In 1868, the new Meiji government decided to set up a physics and chemistry bureau in Osaka to provide physics and chemistry education, and dispatched Gratama to prepare for its opening. The opening ceremony was held in May 1866, and he gave a lecture titled "A lecture on the opening of the physics and chemistry bureau" (included in the Meiji Bunka Zenshu, vol. 27). At the bureau, he instructed experiments using laboratory equipment and chemicals received from the Netherlands, and his lectures, such as "The Essence of Gold and Silver," "A New Theory of Science," and "The Use of Reagents," were translated and published. However, due to the lack of Dutch language skills and basic scientific knowledge among the Japanese students at the time, he was unable to achieve sufficient results and left Osaka in December of the third year to return to his home country. He was replaced by the German Ritter, who lectured in English. The Osaka Physics Bureau later changed its name to the School of Science, Osaka Kaisei Institute, and was succeeded by what later became the Third High School (Kyoto University). <References> Shiba Tetsuo, "Gratama and Japanese Chemistry" (Kagakushi Kenkyu, No. 18), Iwata Takaaki, "The Rise and Fall of the Osaka Physics Bureau" (In Inoue Hisao, ed., Meiji Restoration Education History)

(Nobuhiro Miyoshi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：1888.1.19(1888.1.19)
生年：1831.4.25
幕末に来日したオランダ人化学者,陸軍軍医。日本の理化学教育の創始に貢献した。オランダのアッセンに生まれ,ユトレヒト大学を卒業し,自然科学と医学の学位を得た。慶応1(1865)年長崎養生所が精得館と改称,さらにそこから分析究理所が独立した際,その専任教師として慶応2年2月に来日した。同所では実験を取り入れた理化学教育を行い,その後江戸幕府の開成所に迎えられたが,維新期の混乱のため講義をなすことなく終わった。明治新政府は明治1(1868)年大阪に舎密局を設けて理化教育を行うことにし,ハラタマを派遣して開校準備に当たらせた。2年5月その開講式が行われ,「舎密局開講之説」(『明治文化全集』27巻所収)と題する講演をした。同局においてオランダから届いた実験器具や薬品を用いた実験を指導し,その講義録『金銀精分』『理化新説』『試薬用法』などが訳出して出版された。しかし,当時の日本人学生のオランダ語学力や科学基礎知識の不足もあって,十分な成果をあげることなく,3年12月大阪を発って帰国した。代わってドイツ人リッテルがその後任となり,英語による講義をした。大阪舎密局はその後理学所,大阪開成所などと名称を変えつつ,のちの第三高等学校(京大)へと引き継がれた。<参考文献>芝哲夫「ハラタマと日本の化学」(『化学史研究』18号),岩田高明「大坂舎密局の消長」(井上久雄編『明治維新教育史』)

(三好信浩)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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