In 1942, Matsumoto Chitei reportedly became the first Korean woman ever to earn a Medical Ph.D., all while raising three children; she discovered at Seoul University that the midbrain of the toad had a cardiovascular center which regulated heart rate

 

Notes: This article says that Dr. Matsumoto Chitei became the first Korean woman to earn a Medical Ph.D. degree. That stood out to me as a very impressive accomplishment, especially in Japan-colonized Korea, where being a Korean woman and a mother raising three children and pregnant with a fourth child would have been significant disadvantages. She was extremely lucky to have had a supportive mentor and a progressive husband who allowed her to pursue her degree while raising children at the same time.

"Medical Ph.D." is a translation of 医学博士 (igaku-hakushi), a degree that was established in Japan in 1898. It is conferred after you graduate medical school, earn your medical license, then either finish a medical science curriculum at a graduate school or write a dissertation in the medical sciences.

Just to be clear, Chitei does not appear to be the first Korean woman ever to become a medical doctor. Esther Park was the first Korean woman ever to become a doctor in Western medicine (Esther Park (physician) - Wikipedia). Kil Chung-Hee earned her medical degree in 1923 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kil_Chung-hee). 

Japan-colonized Korea was by no means a land of gender equality brimming with opportunity for women. On the contrary, Dr. Matsumoto was an exceedingly rare exception in a country where most Koreans did not have the opportunity to attend high school, let alone university or graduate school.

So, I was surprised to learn that there were a handful of Korean women who managed to earn university degrees during World War II. According to this paper in Japanese (https://doi.org/10.15017/2544147), if a Korean girl in Japan-colonized Korea wanted to fulfill her dream of getting a university education, her best chance was to graduate from Ehwa Girls' High School, find a sympathetic mentor, and get into a university in Japan proper with his help. But that was a very long shot.

Chitei does not appear in any Google searches except in one academic page (https://cir.nii.ac.jp/ja/crid/1110001310155268992) which actually lists her Japanese name and the date when she received her medical degree: June 18, 1942. The title of her dissertation listed on this page, 蟇血管中脳に関する薬理学的研究 (Pharmacological study on the toad vascular midbrain), differs slightly from the one listed in this article. I believe that her research proved that the midbrain of amphibians also has a cardiovascular center which regulates heart rate, much like humans.

In this article, she says that she will devote her life to research and continue on the path of medicine, but she does not appear to have published any papers after her dissertation. I wonder what happened to her?

It would be nice if I could search for Dr. Matsumoto in Korean language sources, figure out her Korean name, and learn more about her postwar life, but unfortunately that is outside of my expertise and resources. My only hunch is that the Kanji for her Japanese first name, Chitei (致貞), is actually the Hanja for her Korean first name, Chijeong (치정). But even searching for women named Chijeong born around 1911 did not show any useful results online, so I'm at a dead end.

(My translation)

Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo), May 5, 1942

Well Done! Female Medical Ph.D.

The first Korean woman to receive this honor
Dr. Matsumoto of Seoul University

A married woman cared for three children while maintaining  her household and doing five years of diligent research, and her efforts have born fruit in the form of a Medical Ph.D..

Dr. Matsumoto Chitei (31), standing out as the only female assistant in the Department of Pharmacology at Seoul University School of Medicine, recently submitted her dissertation entitled "Pharmacological Studies on the Vascular Center" to the faculty council. She is the first Korean woman to be awarded the honor of Medical Ph.D.. In addition to her main thesis, Dr. Matsumoto's research was on "The Pharmacological Effects of Camphor Injection on the Human Body", which she proved with clear answers through field research.

Dr. Matsumoto graduated from Tokyo Women's Medical College in 1935 and immediately returned home after graduation, where she spent two years conducting research at the Iwai Department of Internal Medicine at Seoul University School of Medicine. In 1937, she joined Osawa Department of Pharmacology, where she has continued her research under the guidance of Professor Osawa. In the meantime, she and her husband had three children and she took care of them all by herself, while having the energy and the drive to devote herself to her research.

When I visited Ms. Matsumoto at her home in Hyoja-dong on the afternoon of May 4th, the newly minted doctor, who was in her last month of pregnancy, expressed her joy as follows with a glow on her face. Photo: Dr. Matsumoto Chitei

"I owe everything to the extraordinary guidance of my teacher, Dr. Osawa. For the past five years, I have been a housewife, leading a double life of family and research, and it has been very difficult at times. However, I wanted to renew the reputation of Korean women, who had previously been used as a synonym for weakness, so I have continued my blazing devotion to my work. What do I want to do now? I would like to devote my life to research for the academic society. However, I am also determined to continue on the path of medicine while devoting myself to my duties as a married woman and a mother."

Splendid Research

Professor Osawa's statement

"Ms. Matsumoto is a hardworking person with a rare and outstanding mind. As a housewife, she has been able to accomplish her research while supporting her husband. Thus, she is an admirable woman, the likes of which is not seen in Japan proper. Furthermore, although I thought that the research theme would be somewhat difficult for a woman, I let her do it and I was really impressed with her splendid and magnificent results.

She clearly proved whether or not a vascular center exists in the blood vessels of cold-blooded animals, which had been an issue discussed in the pharmacological society, and she also clearly answered the question of the distribution of nerve innervation in the blood vessels, which had also been a question in the past."

Source: https://archive.org/details/kjnp-1942-05-05/page/6/mode/1up

(My transcription)

京城日報　1942年5月5日

天晴れ”女医学博士”

半島女性初の栄誉
城大の松源さん

人妻として三人の愛児を抱え家庭を守りながら孜々と積んだ五ヶ年の研究が実を結び、天晴れ医学博士の学位を獲得、半島女性のため万丈の気を吐いた学会の朗話がある。

城大医学部大沢薬理学教室で唯一人の女子副手として異彩を放っていた松源致貞さん（三一）は先頃”血管中枢に関する薬理学的研究”と題する学位論文を同教授会に提出中であったが、このほど目出度く通過し、半島女性としては最初の医博の栄誉を獲得した。松源新医博の研究は主論文の外「カンフル注射が人体に与える薬理学的奏効に就いて」を実地研究によって明快な解答を与えて立証したものだ。

松源さんは昭和十年東京女子医専を卒業、直ちに帰郷。城大医学部岩井内科で二年間研究を積み、更に同十二年から大沢薬理学教室に入り、大沢教授の指導下に今日まで研究を重ねていたものだ。その間家庭には夫君との間に三人愛児をもうけ、一切の世話を自分の手一つでやり通しながらも研究に精進していた熱と努力の女性だ。

四日午後孝子町の自宅に松源さんを訪えば臨月の身重にある新医博は二重のお目出度に顔を輝かせながら次のように喜びを述べた。【写真＝松源致貞さん】

「すべてが恩師大沢先生の並々ならぬ御指導の賜物でございます。この五年間は主婦として家庭と研究の二重生活に当り、随分辛いこともありましたわ。しかし従来ややもすれば弱いものの代名詞に使われていた半島女性の面目を一新したいと存じまして、火の出るような精進を続けて参りました。これからどうするかとおっしゃるんですの？わたくしはどこまでも学会のため研究に一生を捧げたいと存じます。しかし、またどこまでも人妻として人の母としての分を尽くしながら医学の道を続ける覚悟でございます。

立派な研究

大沢教授談

松源さんは稀に見る優れた頭脳を持った努力家だ。家庭の主婦として立派に内助の功を樹てながら立派に研究を遂げた点は、内地に例を見ない感心な女性だ。しかも研究テーマが女性にやや困難だと思いながら、やらせて見たところ実に立派な堂々たる成果を収めたので全く感激している。

従来から薬理学会で課題となっていた「冷血動物」にも血管中枢が存在するか否かに就いて明快な証明を与えたものであり、血管内の神経支配の分布状況に就いて従来は疑問とされていた点をはっきりと解答するなど却々立派なものだ。

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/korea/comments/s1jdk9/in_1942_matsumoto_chitei_reportedly_became_the/

In a 1928 news editorial, a colonial government official describes getting into an argument with students and professors opposed to Japan's colonial policies in Korea during a lecture at Kyoto University

 

February 18, 1928 Gyeongseong Ilbo (Keijo Nippo)

Students of Japan proper who are ignorant about the situation in Korea

Mr. Mitsui the engineer recounts discussing the Korean problem at Kyoto University

Mr. Mitsui, an engineer with the Colonial Production Bureau of the Government General of Korea, traveled on business to Kyoto to give a lecture at Kyoto University on the history of agricultural policies in Korea. After he returned to his post in Korea on the 17th, he recounted the following regarding the ignorance of academics and researchers in Japan proper about the situation in Korea.

"The attendees who came to listen to my lecture were mostly students and professors from the economics department, and I spent over thirty minutes talking about the history of the agricultural policies of the Government General of Korea. Apparently, the people in Japan proper seem to be ignorant about the situation in Korea. With their ignorant minds, university professors discuss the rural problems of Korea in their writings. Then the students apparently read these writings, and something that is far separated from the actual reality of Korea is imprinted onto their minds. Topics such as the purpose of rice production and rice breeding plans, issues related to Japanese settlers migrating into Korea, and issues related to Koreans migrating into Manchuria are all very erroneously represented. The audience argued that it was unnatural for Koreans to eat chestnuts from Manchuria, and then ship off the rice that they themselves produced to Japan proper. As a counterattack, I asked if it was really unnatural to export silk thread produced in Japan proper to the United States, and for the Japanese to wear cotton cloth from India, and I asked whether or not this was really sacrificing the Japanese for American flappers. I argued that Koreans were not sacrificing themselves in favor of the Japanese people by shipping off Korean rice to Japan proper and eating chestnuts from Manchuria, but that this arrangement was for making life convenient for the Koreans themselves. The issues related to migration are talked about as if the migration of Japanese settlers were actually oppressing the Korean peasants, but it is actually more the case that, generally, the migration of Japanese settlers into Korea has enriched the Korean peasants. Because these things are not widely known, I talked about the history of agricultural policies in Korea and the reality of the rural communities in Korea, and the audience listened to my lecture very attentively."

(my transcription into modern Japanese orthography, with punctuation marks added for clarity)

昭和三年二月十八日　京城日報

朝鮮の事情に疎い内地の学徒

京大で朝鮮問題を論じた
三井技師語る

殖産局三井技師は京都大学で朝鮮の農政沿革史講演のため京都へ出張中であったが十七日帰任、内地の学究が朝鮮の事情を知らぬ事につき左の如く語る。

「私の講演を聴きに来たものは経済科の生徒と教授達が主で私は三十余分間朝鮮総督府の農政の沿革を話した。内地にいる人はどうも朝鮮の事情に疎い様である。大学教授なども、其のうとい頭で朝鮮の農村問題を論じ、学生もそれを読んで朝鮮の真相に遠いものが頭にコビリ付いている様である。産米増殖の計画の趣旨、内地人の朝鮮移民問題、朝鮮人の満州移民など非常に誤り伝えられている。朝鮮人が満州栗を食って自分の作った米を内地に移出するのが不自然だなどという議論をやるから、私はそれでは内地で産する繭糸を米国に輸出し内地人は印度あたりの綿布をまとっているのは不自然で米国のモガの犠牲になるためかと逆襲してやった。朝鮮人が朝鮮米を内地に移出して満州栗を食う事は何も内地人の犠牲になってやっているのではなく、鮮人自身の生活の方便からである。移民問題にした所が内地移民が朝鮮農民を圧迫するが如く伝えているが、大体内地移民のために朝鮮農民がうるおった事の方が大きい。そんな事はよく知られていぬから私は朝鮮農政の沿革を語り農村の真相を語ったが、非常に傾聴されていた。」

Source: https://archive.org/details/kjnp-1928-02-18

Reddit Link: In a 1928 news editorial, a colonial government official describes getting into an argument with students and professors opposed to Japan's colonial policies in Korea during a lecture at Kyoto University : korea (reddit.com)