Dr. Shiro Furukawa was born on September 22, 1922, in Tosu City, Japan. He graduated from the Japanese Naval Academy in 1942 and served as a Naval Aviation Radar instructor at Yokosuka Naval Air Force Base. He received his M.D. degree in 1950 from the School of Medicine at Kumamoto University. He completed his postgraduate residency in pathology at the University of Tennessee in 1965 and joined the Advanced Technology Research Laboratory at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, where he conducted space life sciences experiments. After joining the Space Division of the General Electric Company, Dr. Furukawa served as a Skylab flight surgeon to organize crew health data processing for "go" or "no go" decisions. He received the NASA Group Achievement Award as a Skylab Medical team member in 1974. In 1979, Dr. Furukawa joined McDonnell Douglas Technical Services Company at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where he was involved with Medical/Life Sciences payloads processing and operational planning that paved the way for KSC Life Sciences and Medical Operation Planning Support.
Dr. Furukawa passed away on April 11, 1990. He was married and had three children.
From the guide to the Skylab Collection, 1960-1990, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)
