Koji Kobayashi (February 17, 1907 – November 30, 1996) was a Japanese engineer and businessman known for his contributions to the electronics industry. He served as the president of

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 ...

from 1964 until 1976 and then as chairman until 1988.

Early life and education

Koji Kobayashi was born on February 17, 1907, in , a village in

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

. He was the fourth boy among nine children. Despite the remote location of his village and the distance to the nearest middle school, Kobayashi was a dedicated student who excelled academically. His academic performance earned him a scholarship, and with the financial support of his brothers, he was able to attend Matsumoto High School. During this period, he received the Nomura Fellowship from the Nomura Foundation. Kobayashi graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering of

Tokyo Imperial University , 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 ...

in March 1929 with a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Ten years later, he was awarded a Doctor of Engineering degree for his research on feedback amplifiers.

References

Sources

* *{{cite book , last1=Uenohara , first1=Michiyuki , author1-link=Michiyuki Uenohara , title=Memorial Tributes: Volume 9 , date=2001 , publisher=

National Academies Press The US National Academies Press (NAP) was created to publish the reports issued by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Medicine, and the National Research C ...

, location=Washington, D.C. , isbn=978-0-309-07411-7 , pages=169–173 , url=https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10094/memorial-tributes-volume-9 , access-date=February 2, 2024 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924152704/https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10094/memorial-tributes-volume-9 , archive-date=September 24, 2022 , chapter=KOJI KOBAYASHI , url-status=live , editor=National Academy of Engineering , editor-link=National Academy of Engineering , url-access=registration Japanese business biography stubs Japanese businesspeople