1880s-1923
| 1880 | Late Mokujiro Tanaka(1862-1927) moved from Osaka, where his family had been engaged in crude drag wholesale business, to Tokyo to stat his carrier as an apprentice at a dealer of medical instruments and chemicals. |
| 1892 | Mokujiro Tanaka started his private business, thus the foundation of Tanaka Scientific. |
| 1901 | Tanaka and Associates Company was formed. |
| 1907 | The first Japan made microscope with 600-power was mass produced by Tanaka. This event helped the nation approach the dawn of the industrialization, in particular the silk industry which later became the largest exporting industry.
 The first Japan made microscope with 600-power |
| 1920 | Tokyo Scientific Machinery Union was founded, and Mokujiro Tanaka was appointed the President. |
| 1923 | Tanaka headquarters building and factory in downtown Tokyo was devastated by Great Kanto Earthquake.
 Devastated by Great Kanto Earthquake The headquarters was relocated to Aoyama ward, and soon after the company recovered quickly due to the rapid industrialization of the nation. Customers included universities, research laboratories, militaries and testing laboratories, and Tanaka gained much of the market shares in the cosmopolitan area.  Relocated to Aoyama ward |
1928-1957
| 1928 | Due to strain from series of challenges, Mokujiro Tanaka passed away at the age of 67. His son, Yotaro Tanaka, took over the company while attending university. |
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| 1940 | The company strengthened the manufacturing capacity and reorganized. Renamed to the current corporate name: Tanaka Scientific Limited. |
| 1945 | The headquarters was devastated by the heavy bombing in March. Japan surrenders to the Allies in August, and Tanaka temporarily aborted its business. |
| 1950s | Due to the recovery of Japan's industries, demand for scientific instruments including petroleum testers gradually increased. Tanaka participated in the start up of several new refineries, including Idemitsu Tokuyama refinery in 1957. Tanaka's business gradually improved.
 Idemitsu Tokuyama Refinery completed in 1957. |
1965-1986
| 1965 | Due to the rapid economic growth, requirement of automating petroleum tests had increased quickly. Tanaka Scientific started developing automated petroleum testers to add to the traditional manual testers.
 First automated flash point tester, |
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| 1968 | Tanaka was appointed a voting member for Petroleum Testing Subcommittee of Japan Industrial Standard. Ever since then, we have been positively involved in the making and maintenance of this national standard. |
| 1976 | The first CPU embedded flash point tester, model APM-4, was released. Ever since then, majority of heavily executed tests have been automated by CPU technology for higher productivity as well as superior precision.
 First CPU embedded flash point tester, |
| 1980s | Tanaka's CPU embedded petroleum testers made debut in overseas. Since the product reliability had improved significantly, automated petroleum testers became suitable for export. |
| 1982 | Started supplying the automated flash point testers to a US manufacturer on OEM basis. In order to better serve the US customers, decision was made to participate in the ASTM standard making/maintenance processes. Application for Voting Membership for "Committee D2 on Petroleum Products and Lubricants" was accepted, and ever since this year, Tanaka has been positively involved in the various activities at ASTM. |
1989-2019
| 1989 | Due to increased precision requirement for sulfur-in-oil determination, X-ray fluorescence sulfur meters, namely RX series, have been added to the line of products. |
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| 1995 | Shanghai Tanaka Scientific Limited was formed in Shanghai, China, to supply the line of petroleum testers in China. |
| 1997 | One of the most significant ASTM test methods, D86 on Standard Test Method for Atmospheric Distillation, was completely rewritten with the latest findings. Tanaka Scientific took a significant role in this project, and "Award of Excellence" was granted for the contribution. |
| 2001 | The company celebrated its 100th year anniversary. |
| 2002 | Tanaka's automatic pour point test method was adopted by ASTM as "D6749 Standard Test Method for Pour Point of Petroleum Products (Automatic Air Pressure Method)". |
| 2007 | New office building was completed in Adachi ward in downtown Tokyo.
 New office building was completed |
| 2011 | Eastern Japan was hit by the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami on March 11th and the subsequent Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. The new office building had no damages; however, one of the subcontractors in Fukushima prefecture was affected by the nuclear power plant accident. A quick decision was made to host the subcontractor in a conference room at Tanaka office building, and on March 28 which is just two weeks after the accident, assembly process resumed. The theme for Tanaka's recovery project was entitled "Ganbaroh Japan- Together We Recover" in April, and ever since then continuing effort to help the victims' recovery have been made across Tanaka group. |
| 2015 | “Mission Statement” was revised, and “Brand Statement” was established. |
2019-
| 2020 | The mpc-6 of MPC series pour/cloud point testers was awarded the ‘2020 Global Niche Top 100’ by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. |
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