Eizaburo Nishibori

was a Japanese scientist, alpinist and technologist. He is also known as the captain of the primary Japanese

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

wintering party. Nishibori was born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

in 1903. In May 1928, he graduated from the Faculty of Science,

Kyoto Imperial University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 billion USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to disting ...

, and stayed on as a lecturer. In 1936, he received his graduate degree. In October 1936, he moved to private enterprise, joining

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...

, where he became the chief of the engineering division. He supervised the creation of an advanced

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. The type kn ...

named "Sora" in response to the

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

's request. Thereafter, he won the AIST prize. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he served as an independent company consultant, and brought the technique of statistical quality control to the industrial world of Japan. Among various other prizes, he won the Deming Prize. His findings paved the way for the rapid industrial development of Japan after the war. After returning to Kyoto University as a professor, he held the captaincy of the Japanese

wintering party, and the chairmanship of the Japan Mountaineering Association. Kinji Imanishi and

Takeo Kuwabara Takeo may refer to: * Takéo Province, a province of Cambodia **Doun Kaev (town), formerly known as Takéo, the capital of Takéo province *Ta Keo, an Angkorian temple in Cambodia *Takeo, Saga, a city in Saga Prefecture, Japan *Takeo (given name), ...

were among Nishibori's mountain-climbing friends. Nishibori also led negotiations with the Nepal government to send a Japanese expedition to climb Manaslu. It would become the first mountain above 8000 m in height to be first summoned by Japanese climbers. Nishibori also backed the Japanese adventurer,

Naomi Uemura was a Japanese adventurer who was known particularly for his solo exploits. For example, he was the first person to reach the North Pole solo, the first person to raft the Amazon solo, and the first person to climb Denali solo. He disappeared a ...

, and taught him how to use scientific observation equipment,

sextant A sextant is a doubly reflecting navigation instrument that measures the angular distance between two visible objects. The primary use of a sextant is to measure the angle between an astronomical object and the horizon for the purposes of celes ...

s, and other instruments. Nishibori died in 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nishibori, Eizaburo 1903 births 1990 deaths People from Kyoto Prefecture 20th-century Japanese engineers Japanese mountain climbers Explorers of Antarctica Kyoto University alumni Academic staff of Kyoto University Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 3rd class