Akira Nakashima (中嶋 章
or 中島 章,
also written as ''Nakashima Akira'',
''Nakasima Akira''
or ''Nakajima Akira'',
5 January 1908 – 29 October 1970) was a Japanese
electrical engineer
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
of the
NEC
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...
.
He got a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the
Imperial University of Tokyo
, abbreviated as or UTokyo, is a public research university located in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1877, the university was the first Imperial University and is currently a Top Type university of the Top Global University Project by ...
.
Nakashima introduced
switching circuit theory
Switching circuit theory is the mathematical study of the properties of networks of idealized switches. Such networks may be strictly combinational logic, in which their output state is only a function of the present state of their inputs; or may ...
in papers from 1934 to 1936,
laying the foundations for
digital circuit In theoretical computer science, a circuit is a model of computation in which input values proceed through a sequence of gates, each of which computes a function. Circuits of this kind provide a generalization of Boolean circuits and a mathematical ...
design, in
digital computer
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These pro ...
s and other areas of modern technology.
This is considered to be an achievement on a par with
Claude Shannon
Claude Elwood Shannon (April 30, 1916 – February 24, 2001) was an American people, American mathematician, electrical engineering, electrical engineer, and cryptography, cryptographer known as a "father of information theory".
As a 21-year-o ...
, who presented a similar theory at the same time.
References
1908 births
1970 deaths
20th-century Japanese engineers
NEC people
University of Tokyo alumni
{{engineer-stub