Yoshio Nishina : Father of Modern Physics in Japan

An easy-to-read biography that analyzes Yoshio Nishina's position in and his contributions to the Japanese physics community. It examines Nishina's family and early studies and focuses on his work in quantum mechanics, particularly the Klein-Nishina formula for Compton scattering. It describes the establishment of the Nishina Laboratory at RIKEN.

Yoshio Nishina not only made a great contribution to the emergence of a research network that produced two Nobel prize winners, but he also raised the overall level of physics in Japan. Focusing on his roles as researcher, teacher, and statesman of science, Yoshio Nishina: Father of Modern Physics in Japan analyzes Nishina''s position in and his contributions to the Japanese physics community.

After a concise biographical introduction, the book examines Nishina''s family, his early studies, the creation of RIKEN, and the greater Japanese physics community in the early twentieth century. It then focuses on Nishina''s work at the Cavendish Laboratory and at the University of Göttingen as well as his more fruitful research at Niels Bohr''s Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen. The book also describes the establishment of the Nishina Laboratory at RIKEN, the collaboration between its experimentalists and theoreticians, and the cosmic ray research of its scientists. The last two chapters discuss Nishina''s controversial construction and operation of two cyclotrons at RIKEN as well as his presidency at RIKEN after World War II.

Navigating Nishina''s entire life through various perspectives, this easy-to-read biography will help you become well acquainted with this fascinating physicist.