She received a Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon and was awarded as an Order of the Precious Crown Third Class for her academic accomplishments and leadership in women’s education in Japan.

[2] Yasui was born in the village of Sanbonmatsu [ja] in Kagawa Prefecture in 1880, to the owner of a shipping business.

From 1924 onwards, she researched the genetics of poppies, corn and Tradescantia species, and in 1945 she began a survey of plants that had been affected by nuclear fallout after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

[2] Most notably, she was the first Japanese woman to receive a doctoral degree in science, and she did so at a university that did not accept female students until almost 20 years later.

These efforts were successful, as she played a pivotal role in the transformation of Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School to Ochanomizu University in 1949.

[3] She also donated the money received as gifts for her retirement to the Tokyo Women’s Higher Normal School as the “Yasui-Kuroda Scholarship,” which continues to provide educational opportunities for young female researchers today.

Kono Yasui’s life has served as a guide and shining example to a whole generation of young women scientists.