Yoshimasa Hirata

was a Japanese organic chemist.

Biography Hirata was born in Yamaguchi, Japan in 1915. He received a Bachelor of Science from the Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) in 1941, and then joined the faculty there as a Lecturer of Chemistry. In 1944, he moved to Nagoya University as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry. In that same year, he was promoted Associate Professor. He received his Ph.D. from Nagoya University in 1949, and was promoted to Full Professor in 1954. He invited Shimomura to work in his lab, which he did, in April 1955. Hirata tasked him with purifying crystallizing Cypridina luciferin for the purpose of determining its structure. 2000 Order of the Rising Sun