was a Japanese
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...
. He was best known as the president of the
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
(IAU) from 2012 to 2015. He directed the
Subaru telescope project, which housed the largest monolithic
primary mirror
A primary mirror (or primary) is the principal light-gathering surface (the objective) of a reflecting telescope.
Description
The primary mirror of a reflecting telescope is a spherical or parabolic shaped disks of polished reflective metal ...
in the world from its commission until 2005. Kaifu researched in
radio astronomy
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...
,
extragalactic astronomy, cosmic magnetic fields, non-stable stars, and
infrared astronomy
Infrared astronomy is a sub-discipline of astronomy which specializes in the observation and analysis of astronomical objects using infrared (IR) radiation. The wavelength of infrared light ranges from 0.75 to 300 micrometers, and falls in betwee ...
. The minor planet
6412 Kaifu is named in his honor.
Kaifu died of
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
on 13 April 2019, at the age of 75.
Career
Kaifu graduated from the
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 ...
in 1972 with a PhD in
radio astronomy
Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...
.
In the early 1980s, he organized bilateral collaborations with British astronomers, including the
United Kingdom Infrared Telescope
The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared (1 to 30 micrometres) telescope in the world. It is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna ...
, which improved relations with international astronomers. He also began working with astronomers in China, South Korea, and Taiwan, and formed the East Asian Core Observatories Association, which built the East Asian Observatory in 2014.
He became the chairman of the Radio Astronomy Division of the
National Astronomical Observatory of Mitaka from 1988 to 1990, and associate director from 1992 to 1996.
In 1990, he was invited to join the Japanese Large Telescope Project, and became the founding director of the
Subaru telescope.
The telescope still remains as one of the largest telescopes in the world. From 2000 to 2006, Kaifu was the director of the
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), and led the construction of the
Nobeyama Radio Observatory, which became Japan's first large inter-university research facility in astronomy. He then served in the
Science Council of Japan
The Science Council of Japan (SCJ) is a representative organization of Japanese scholars and scientists in all fields of sciences, including humanities, social sciences, life sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. , president of Toyohashi ...
as president of the Natural Science & Engineering Division from 2005 to 2011. He acted as the single point of contact for the
International Year of Astronomy 2009 in Japan.
Kaifu taught at the
Open University of Japan
is a distance learning university which has students from all over Japan; it accepted its first students in 1985.
History
Although founded by the national government initiative with a single-issue law and heavily subsidized by the government, i ...
from 2007 to 2012,
and from 2012 to 2015, was elected president of the
International Astronomical Union (IAU). In his lifetime, he published over 150 papers and 30 books, and was a regular reviewer of the Japanese newspaper ''Mainichi Shimbun''.
Scientific achievements
Kaifu became widely known for his research into
radio spectroscopy. While working on the 6-meter millimeter wave telescope at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory, he developed radio spectrometers, which began to detect several molecules in the atmosphere after the telescope's completion in 1982.
He helped develop the
acousto-optical spectrometer
An acousto-optical spectrometer (AOS) is based on the diffraction of light by ultrasonic waves. A piezoelectric transducer, driven by the RF signal (from the receiver), generates an acoustic wave in a crystal (the so-called Bragg-cell). This a ...
used in the Nobeyama 45 meter radio telescope.
This spectrometer had more than ten times the bandwidth and channels of other spectrometers at the time. He and his team carried out surveys of spectral lines and discovered more than a dozen molecules, most of which were organic. His work also helped develop the first clear evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.
Kaifu led research on
and laid the foundations for fields such as the direct observation of exoplanets and the evolution of
protoplanetary disk
A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may also be considered an accretion disk for the star itself, be ...
s.
Personal life
Kaifu is a cousin to
Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
physicist
Makoto Kobayashi and former Japanese prime minister
Toshiki Kaifu
was a Japanese politician who served as the 77th Prime Minister of Japan from 1989 to 1991.
Early life and education
Kaifu was born on 2 January 1931, in Nagoya City, the eldest of six brothers. His family's business Nakamura Photo Studio w ...
.
Awards
*
Nishina Memorial Prize
The is the oldest and most prestigious physics award in Japan.
Information
Since 1955, the Nishina Memorial Prize has been awarded annually by the Nishina Memorial Foundation. The Foundation was established to commemorate Yoshio Nishina, who w ...
(1987) for works on
millimeter astronomy
*
Japan Academy Prize (1997) for research on
interstellar matter
In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter and radiation that exist in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as dust and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar ...
* Mainichi Book-Review Award (2011)
See also
*
References
External links
Norio Kaifu entryat
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaifu, Norio
1943 births
2019 deaths
21st-century Japanese astronomers
Deaths from cancer in Japan
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
20th-century Japanese astronomers
University of Tokyo alumni
Presidents of the International Astronomical Union