[M-ZZ32] Geoscience Studies: historical, philosophical and STS studies

[MZZ32-03] Edmund Naumann (1854- 1927) and Ogai Mori (1862-1922): geologist vs writer

*Michiko Yajima¹ (1.College of Humanity and Science, Nihon University)

Keywords:Naumann, Ogai, controversy

A German geologist Edmund Naumann came to Japan in 1875. He was the first professor of geology in the University of Tokyo and founded the Geological Survey Japan. When he went back to Germany in 1885, German, Austrian, and British Geological Society invited Naumann to have a talk on geology, nature, culture, and people in Japan. In 1886, in Dresden in Germany, one Japanese student of medicine attended one of the meeting that Naumann talked and he offered objection to Naumann’s speech. The Japanese was Ougai Mori, studied medicine in Germany at that time and became the famous writer. Mori continued controversy with Naumann in the German Newspaper. Mori was wrong in the contents, but the detail was not known in Japan and Mori was applauded among Japanese people because at the end of 19th century, Japan was suffered the unequal treaty. This case is one of the by-product of modernization of Japan, and the reputation of Naumann is wrong still now.