Keisuke Ito

Who was Keisuke Ito?

Keisuke Ito was a Japanese physician and biologist. He was born in Nagoya. He studied Western science under Philipp Franz von Siebold during the 1820s.

As a doctor, Ito developed a vaccination against smallpox. He also widely studied the Japanese flora and fauna with Philipp Franz von Siebold, the author of Fauna Japonica and Flora Japonica. Rhododendron keiskei has been named after him. He wrote Taisei honzou meiso published in 1829.

Ito became a professor at the University of Tokyo in 1888.

He died in 1901, and he was ennobled with the title of baron.