PHYSICIAN

Shirō Ishii

1892 - 1959

Photo of Shirō Ishii

Icon of person Shirō Ishii

Surgeon General Shirō Ishii (Japanese: 石井 四郎, Hepburn: Ishii Shirō; [iɕiː ɕiɾoː]; June 25, 1892 – October 9, 1959) was a Japanese bioterrorist, licensed microbiologist and army medical officer, who served as the director of Unit 731, a biological warfare unit of the Imperial Japanese Army. Ishii led the development and application of biological weapons at Unit 731 in China during the Second Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945, including the bubonic plague attacks at Chinese cities of Changde and Ningbo, and planned the Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night biological attack against the United States, ij which he intended to carry out a genocide by unleashing a remade bubonic plague. Hirohito rewarded him with a special service medal for his work. Ishii and his colleagues also engaged in human experimentation, resulting in the deaths of over 10,000 subjects, most of them civilians or prisoners of war. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Shirō Ishii is the 100th most popular physician (down from 65th in 2019), the 78th most popular biography from Japan (down from 72nd in 2019) and the most popular Japanese Physician.

Shirō Ishii is most famous for his experiments on humans in Unit 731. He experimented on humans by injecting them with various diseases and chemicals to see how they would react.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Shirō Ishii by language

Loading...

Among PHYSICIANS

Among physicians, Shirō Ishii ranks 100 out of 726Before him are Frederick Chapman Robbins, Jean Nicot, Peter Canisius, François Duvalier, Djer, and Giovanni Antonio Scopoli. After him are George Minot, Michael DeBakey, Louis Auguste Blanqui, Ulf von Euler, Niels Kaj Jerne, and Cornelius Jansen.

Most Popular Physicians in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1892, Shirō Ishii ranks 36Before him are Erwin Panofsky, Darius Milhaud, Corneille Heymans, Arthur Friedenreich, J. Paul Getty, and Marina Tsvetaeva. After him are Ernst Lubitsch, Robert Ritter von Greim, Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, Bruno Schulz, Martin Niemöller, and Erhard Milch. Among people deceased in 1959, Shirō Ishii ranks 18Before him are Billie Holiday, Raymond Chandler, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Boris Vian, D. F. Malan, and William Halsey Jr.. After him are Camilo Cienfuegos, George Grosz, Errol Flynn, Ettore Majorana, Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal, and Buddy Holly.

Others Born in 1892

Go to all Rankings

Others Deceased in 1959

Go to all Rankings

In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Shirō Ishii ranks 78 out of 6,245Before him are Chūichi Nagumo (1887), Kenzō Tange (1913), Nichiren (1222), Tomoe Gozen (1157), Emperor Annei (-577), and Kazuo Ishiguro (1954). After him are Sei Shōnagon (966), Emperor Momozono (1741), Ishida Mitsunari (1559), Yoichiro Nambu (1921), Toyotomi Hideyori (1593), and Uesugi Kenshin (1530).

Among PHYSICIANS In Japan

Among physicians born in Japan, Shirō Ishii ranks 1After him are Kitasato Shibasaburō (1853), Hakaru Hashimoto (1881), Tasuku Honjo (1942), Hiraga Gennai (1728), Shinya Yamanaka (1962), Kusumoto Ine (1827), Kiyoshi Shiga (1871), Shinobu Ishihara (1879), Hiroshi Nakajima (1928), Kyusaku Ogino (1882), and Sunao Tawara (1873).