Kotaro Shimomura

Dr. Shimomura was the first to produce coke on a large scale in quality and hardness equal to best English and German coke by suitable blending of materials and suitable method of heating, which eventually superseded the foreign articles entire He erected the first by-product ovens in Japan, and when built and started, the enterprise was considered to be a reckless endeavor.

Shimomura was one of the earliest workers on ammonium sulphate to produce it on a large scale and put it on the market as a fertilizer in the days when its superiority to sodium nitrate in Japanese soils was not very well recognized.

He was not an expert in tar distillation and was among the first to produce naphthalene in powder, balls and cakes at a time when its smell was objected to as something unbearable.

This fear was subsequently contradicted by increased demand for benzene as solvent, motor oil and also an important raw material for dyestuffs.

In the time of the world war, Japan was amply provided with benzene obtained from coke-oven gas to make the manufacture of dyestuffs independent of foreign supply.

Shimomura was the organizer of the Harris School of Science at Doshisha University in Kyoto and served as professor of chemistry from 1889 to 1896.