Hideki Yukawa facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Hideki Yukawa
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| 湯川 秀樹 | |
Yukawa in 1951
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| Born | 23 January 1907 |
| Died | 8 September 1981 (aged 74) |
| Nationality |  Japanese |
| Alma mater | Kyoto Imperial University, Osaka Imperial University |
| Spouse(s) | Sumi Yukawa |
| Children | 2 |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Theoretical physics |
| Institutions | Osaka Imperial University Kyoto Imperial University Imperial University of Tokyo Institute for Advanced Study Columbia University |
| Academic advisors | Kajuro Tamaki |
| Doctoral students | Mendel Sachs |
| Influences | Enrico Fermi |
| Signature | |
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Hideki Yukawa (湯川 秀樹, Yukawa Hideki, born 23 January 1907 – died 8 September 1981) was a Japanese theoretical physicist. He was the first Japanese person to win a Nobel Prize. He received this award for his important work predicting the existence of a particle called the pi meson, or pion.
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About Hideki Yukawa
Hideki Yukawa was born in Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in Kyoto. His birth name was Hideki Ogawa. He had two older brothers, two older sisters, and two younger brothers.
When he was young, his father thought about sending him to a technical college instead of a university. This was because his father felt Hideki was not as good a student as his older brothers. However, his middle school principal saw his great talent in mathematics. The principal even offered to adopt Hideki himself to help him continue his studies. After this, his father agreed to let him pursue a scholarly path.
In high school, Hideki decided not to become a mathematician. This was because a teacher marked his exam answer wrong, even though he had proven a math problem correctly, just in a different way than expected. Later, in college, he decided against a career in experimental physics. He found he was not very good at tasks like glassblowing, which was needed for experiments.
His Scientific Journey
In 1929, Hideki Yukawa finished his degree at Kyoto Imperial University. He then stayed there as a lecturer for four years. He was very interested in theoretical physics, especially in understanding tiny elementary particles.
In 1932, he married Sumi Yukawa. According to Japanese customs at the time, he was adopted by Sumi's father, Genyo, because Genyo had no sons. This is how Hideki changed his family name from Ogawa to Yukawa. Hideki and Sumi had two sons, Harumi and Takaaki.
In 1933, when he was 26 years old, he became an assistant professor at Osaka University.
Predicting the Meson
In 1935, Hideki Yukawa published his famous theory about mesons. This theory helped explain the strong forces between protons and neutrons inside an atom's nucleus. This idea was a huge step forward in understanding elementary particles.
In 1940, he became a professor at Kyoto University. He received the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy in 1940 and the Decoration of Cultural Merit from the Japanese government in 1943.
Nobel Prize and Later Work
In 1949, Hideki Yukawa became a professor at Columbia University in the United States. In the same year, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics. This was after scientists like Cecil Frank Powell, Giuseppe Occhialini, and César Lattes discovered the pi meson in 1947. This discovery confirmed Yukawa's prediction from 1935.
Yukawa also worked on a theory called K-capture. This is when an atom's nucleus absorbs a low-energy electron.
In 1953, Hideki Yukawa became the first chairman of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics. He received many honors, including honorary degrees and memberships in important scientific groups around the world.
He was an editor for a science journal called Progress of Theoretical Physics. He also wrote books like Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (1946) and Introduction to the Theory of Elementary Particles (1948).
In 1955, he joined ten other famous scientists and thinkers to sign the Russell–Einstein Manifesto. This document called for nuclear disarmament, meaning reducing and getting rid of nuclear weapons.
Hideki Yukawa retired from Kyoto University in 1970 as a Professor Emeritus. In his later years, he used a wheelchair due to poor health. He passed away at his home in Kyoto on 8 September 1981, at the age of 74.
Solo violinist Diana Yukawa is a relative of Hideki Yukawa.
Awards and Recognition
- 1940 – Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy
- 1941 – Academic Noma Award
- 1943 – Order of Culture
- 1949 – Nobel Prize in Physics
- 1963 – Elected a Foreign Member Royal Society (ForMemRS)
- 1964 – Lomonosov Gold Medal
- 1967 – Pour le Mérite
- 1967 – Medal of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
- 1977 – Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
- 1981 – Junior Second Rank (awarded after his death)
See also
In Spanish: Hideki Yukawa para niños
