Pathologist listed in science Hall of Fame

Yun Il-sun, the first pathologist in Korea, has been inducted into the Science Hall of Fame for this year, the Education Ministry said.

He is the 28th person to be accepted onto the hall of fame, and previous honorees include King Sejong, creator of the Korean alphabet, Jang Young-sil, an engineer and scientist, and Huh Jun, a herb doctor. Both Jang and Huh lived during the 1387-1450 King Sejong period.

Yun introduced the western medicine to Korea during Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule and contributed to the development of modern medicine, especially pathology.

Born in Tokyo in 1896, he pursed the study of medicine, affected by the loss of his mother to pneumonia when he was 11.

After attending Kyoto University Medical School in Japan from 1923 to 1929, Yun came back to Korea to work at Keijo Imperial University of Medicine in Seoul, which is the predecessor of Seoul National University.

He served as a pathology professor at the Severance Union Medical College from 1930, where he established the department of pathology, paving the way for modern medicine in Korea.

He headed the medical department of Seoul National University in 1945 and later became the dean of its medical school in 1956. He also founded the nation’s first Korean-language medical journal, of which he was editor for 10 years. He died in 1987.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)