From Einstein to Shirakawa: The Nobel Prize in Japan

Authors
Citation
M. Low, From Einstein to Shirakawa: The Nobel Prize in Japan, MINERVA, 39(4), 2001, pp. 445-460
Citations number
58
Language
INGLESE
art.tipo
Article
Categorie Soggetti
Education
Journal title
MINERVA
ISSN journal
0026-4695 → ACNP
Volume
39
Issue
4
Year of publication
2001
Pages
445 - 460
Database
ISI
SICI code
0026-4695(2001)39:4<445:FETSTN>2.0.ZU;2-C
Abstract
There have been two Japanese Nobel laureates in chemistry, three in physics , and one in the category of medicine or physiology. This relatively small number has been attributed to shortcomings in Japanese science. The award o f the Physics Prize in 1949 to Hideki Yukawa and to his colleague Sin'itiro Tomonaga in 1965 gave public evidence of how Japanese could make outstandi ng individual contributions to science. Paradoxically, the Prize also reinf orced a belief that such men formed part of a traditional hierarchical syst em. This essay examines how the Nobel Prize has been represented in Japan.