Eiichirō Honma (SB 1874)
Railroad engineer and the first MIT graduate from outside of the Western hemisphere
Introduction
Eiichirō Honma was born in 1854 to a samurai household in Fukuoka, Japan. The Fukuoka lord ordered Honma to study English in the nearby city of Nagasaki in 1865, before sending him to America for further studies in 1867. After arriving in Boston, Honma studied for three years in several schools in Massachusetts, before joining MIT in 1870. At the Institute Honma majored in Course I (Civil Engineering) and studied railroad engineering—a discipline that was critical to America’s own industrialization. Honma completed his four years at MIT with a senior thesis entitled "Design of an Iron Warren Girder Railroad Bridge," in which he presented a design for a railroad bridge with enhanced durability. After returning to Japan, Honma enjoyed a prominent career as a railroad engineer, including managing the construction of a railroad across the famously treacherous Usui pass.
