Masatoshi Koshiba

 

Dr. Masatoshi Koshiba was born in 1926 in Toyohashi city, Japan. He graduated from the University of Tokyo in 1951, and continued research at its Graduate School. In 1955, he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Rochester, NY.

From 1955 to 1958, he conducted research in the Department of Physics at the University of Chicago as a Research Associate. In 1958 to 1963 Dr. Koshiba returned to the University of Tokyo as an Associate Professor at the Institute of Nuclear Study. Also, during this time, from 1959 to 1962, while on leave from the University of Tokyo, he was a Senior Research Associate with the honorary rank of Associate Professor and Acting Director of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics and Cosmic Radiation at the University of Chicago.

In 1963 to 1970, Dr. Koshiba was Associate Professor in the Department of Science, Faculty of Science, at the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Koshiba remained at the University of Tokyo for the next 17 years until 1987. During his tenure, he served as Director, Laboratory of High Energy Physics from 1974 to 1976; Director, Laboratory for International Collaboration on Elementary Particle Physics from 1976 to 1984; and Director, International Center for Elementary Particle Physics from 1984 to 1987. He was honorably assigned as Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo in 1987.

After retiring from the University of Tokyo in 1987, Dr. Koshiba became Professor of Tokai University until 1997. During this period, from 1995 to 1997, he was commissioned to work in the United States as Director of Washington Liaison Office, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

His other academic appointments include: Visiting Professor at DESY and the University of Hamburg (1987); Guest Professor, CERN (1987-88); Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Chicago (1989); Regent Lecturer, University of California, Riverside (1990); Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Scholar, California Institute of Technology (1994); Distinguished Visiting Scholar, George Washington University (1996-97); and (1998-99) Alexander von Humboldt Preistrager at DESY in Hamburg, Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik in Heidelberg, and Max-Planck Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik in Garching.

Presently, Dr. Koshiba is Councilor for the International Center for Elementary particle Physics, University of Tokyo. He is a member of the American Physical Society, the Physical Society of Japan, and the Japanese Astronomical Society.

Dr. Koshiba has been playing leading roles in the experiments on cosmic ray physics, notably Kamiokande, a detector in Japan which precisely recorded the time of arrival, energy, and direction of incoming neutrinos, and Super-Kamiokande, as well as the experiments in high energy physics using the electron-positron colliders with the highest energies.

In 2002, Dr. Koshiba was awarded Nobel Prize in Physics for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos. His numerous honors and prizes include as follows:

 

Honors and Prizes:

Aug.'85: Der Grosse Verdienstkreutz from the President of Federal Republic of Germany.

Dec.'87: The Nishina Prize from the Nishina Foundation.

Jan. '88: The ASAHI Prize from the ASAHI Press.

Nov.'88: The Order of Culture by the Japanese Government.

Jun. '89: The Academy Award from the Academy of Japan.

Jun. '89: The Bruno Rossi Award from the American Physical Society.

Aug.'96: The Special Prize from the European Physical Society.

Mar.'97: The Alexander von Humboldt Prize from the Humboldt Foundation.

Jun. '97: The Fujiwara Prize from the Fujiwara Science Foundation.

Nov.'97: The Order of Cultural Merit conferred by The Emperor of Japan in person.

Jan. '99: The second ASAHI Prize from the ASAHI Press.

Jan.'99: The Diploma di Perfezionamento honoris causa in Fisica from The Scuola Normale Superiole, Pisa, Italy

Jul. '99: Doktor der Naturwissenschaften ehrenhalber from Hamburg University.

May '00: Rochester's Distinguished Scholar Award from the University of Rochester.

May '00: The Wolf Prize from The State President of Israel.

Jun. '00 Citation by the Town of Kamioka.

Aug. '00 Citation by the Governor of Gifu Prefecture.

Apr. '02 Panofsky Prize from American Physical Society.

Dec. '02 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Dec. '02 Member, The Japan Academy.

Apr. '03 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics

Apr. '03 The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun

 

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