Scholar and physician. Interested in many subjects, Ito learned Confucianism and medicine from his father, a physician. He was also interested in botany. Ito published seventeen books, among them the well-known “Nippon Sanbutsushi” and “Nippon Shokubutsu Zusetsu Soubu.” He later examined methods of vaccination against smallpox and established a method of vaccination for use in Japan. Ito advocated Western medicine and helped establish the first medical school in the former supreme court building of the Nagoya clan. This was the origin of Nagoya University.He was later appointed Professor at the University of Tokyo in 1881, from where he obtained his Doctorate in Science in 1888. In 1901, he became Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, and was granted the title of baron. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)