TOP > News & Topics > Frontier Research Center's Prof. Hosono Wins Asahi Prize

Frontier Research Center's Prof. Hosono Wins Asahi Prize

2011.01.12

Frontier Research Center’s Prof. Hosono Wins Asahi Prize

In 1929, the Asahi Shimbun, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, established the Asahi Prize to commemorate its 50th anniversary. The prestigious prize is awarded to individuals and groups that have made outstanding accomplishments in academia and the arts and have greatly contributed to the development and progress of Japanese culture and wider society. Dr. Kenichi Iga, President of Tokyo Institute of Technology (and Director of the Precision and Intelligence Laboratory at that time), was the first member of the university to win the Prize in 1997.

Now the university has another winner, Professor Hideo Hosono of the Tokyo Tech’s Frontier Research Center, who is a recipient of the 2010 Asahi Prize, awarded for his discovery and development of brand new transparent oxide semiconductors and metals.

On the announcement, Prof. Hosono stated:

“I am very grateful for the prize. I couldn’t have done it without help from my former teacher and boss Dr. Hiroshi Kawazoe, Professor Emeritus of Tokyo Tech, the staff in the laboratory, students, and the researchers who participated in JST’s ERATO and SORST projects. The Research Laboratory of Engineering Materials in those days (now the Materials and Structures Laboratory) was filled with a fierce frontier spirit, which boosted the research. Today I feel even more keenly the importance of this type of environment.

“I am determined to continuously devote myself to the research on new superconductors, Ubiquitous Element Strategy, and transparent oxide semiconductors.”

The award presentation ceremony for the 2010 Prize will be held at the Imperial Hotel in Hibiya, Tokyo on January 27.

News & Topics