Research on bioelectromechanics for 70 years

Abstract

In 1944, I graduated from the Department of Physics, the University of Tokyo and entered to the Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research, where Dr. Syoten Oka was a Chief Scientist in the Laboratory of Polymer Physics. I studied the theory of dielectric materials under his guidance. I also belonged to the laboratory of Dr. Heiji Kawai who was known by the basic and applied research on the piezoelectricity of Rochelle Salt crystal. Under his guidance I learned the experimental techniques of vibration, which later led me to the research on the piezoelectricity of polymers. I was a British Council Scholar from August, 1956 to February, 1957. I stayed at the laboratory of Dr. R.W.B. Stephens in the Imperial College of Science and Technology, the University of London, and studied the viscoelasticity of irradiated polyethylene and polyesters under the direction of Dr. A. Charlesby at the Atomic Energy Establishment, Harwell, England. In 1963, I moved to the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (now RIKEN). I worked there as a Chief Scientist in Polymer Physics Laboratory until 1980. I was an Executive Director of Riken from 1981 to 1984. After retirement, I worked as a Research Advisor at the Tsukuba Institute for Super Materials, ULVAC Japan Ltd from 1987 to 1998. Concurrently, in 1991, I was lucky to come back to the Kobayasi Institute of Physical Research, where I still remained as an Emeritus Scientist. I was a visiting professor at the Physics Department of Gakushuin University from 1961 to 1980. I was lucky to be invited as a visiting professor to various foreign countries. The names to whom I am very grateful are Prof. M.H. Shamos of New York University in 1965, Prof. S. Mascarenhas of the University of Sao Paulo in 1974, Prof. G. M. Sessler of the Technical University of Darmstadt and Prof. K. Dransfeld of the University of Konstanz in 1986 and Prof. G. Arlt of the Technical University of Aachen in 1987 and Prof. D. Liepsch of Eisenhauer Medical Center, Palm Springs in 1988.