Hideki Shirakawa is a
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese
chemistA chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
and winner of the 2000
Nobel Prize in ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
for his discovery of conductive polymers together with physics professor
Alan J. HeegerAlan Jay Heeger is an American physicist, academic and Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry.Heeger was born in Sioux City, Iowa to a Jewish family. He earned a B.S. in physics and mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1957, and a Ph.D in physics from the University of California,...
and chemistry professor
Alan G. MacDiarmidAlan Graham MacDiarmid ONZ was a chemist, and one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000.-Early life:He was born in Masterton, New Zealand as one of five children - three brothers and two sisters...
at the
University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
.
Works
While employed as an assistant at
Tokyo Institute of TechnologyThe Tokyo Institute of Technology is a public research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,850 undergaraduates and 5006 graduate students for 2009-2010...
(Tokyo Tech) in Japan, he developed
polyacetylenePolyacetylene is an organic polymer with the repeat unit n. The high electrical conductivity discovered for these polymers beginning in the 1960's accelerated interest in the use of organic compounds in microelectronics...
, which has a metallic appearance. This result interested
Alan MacDiarmidAlan Graham MacDiarmid ONZ was a chemist, and one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000.-Early life:He was born in Masterton, New Zealand as one of five children - three brothers and two sisters...
when MacDiarmid visited TITech in 1975.
In 1976, he was invited to work in the laboratory of
Alan MacDiarmidAlan Graham MacDiarmid ONZ was a chemist, and one of three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000.-Early life:He was born in Masterton, New Zealand as one of five children - three brothers and two sisters...
as a post-doctoral fellow at the
University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
. The two developed the electrical conductivity of polyacetylene along with American physicist Alan Heeger.
In 1977 they discovered that doping with
iodineIodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....
vapor could enhance the conductivity of polyacetylene. The three scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 in recognition of the discovery. With regard to the mechanism of electric conduction, it is strongly believed that nonlinear
excitationsExcitation is an elevation in energy level above an arbitrary baseline energy state. In physics there is a specific technical definition for energy level which is often associated with an atom being excited to an excited state....
in the form of solitons play a role.
Biography
1936 Born in Tokyo, in the family of a military doctor. Around third grade, he moved to Takayama, Gifu, which is the hometown of his mother.
1961 Graduated from
Tokyo Institute of TechnologyThe Tokyo Institute of Technology is a public research university located in Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. Tokyo Tech is the largest institution for higher education in Japan dedicated to science and technology. Tokyo Tech enrolled 4,850 undergaraduates and 5006 graduate students for 2009-2010...
(Tokyo Tech), Chemical engineering department in the School of Science and Engineering.
1966 Received doctorate from Chemical engineering department in Graduate School of Science and Engineering at Tokyo Tech. Obtained the post of assistant in Chemical Resources Laboratory at Tokyo Tech.
1976 Post-doctoral researcher in the
University of PennsylvaniaThe University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, USA with invitation by Alan MacDiarmid.
1979 Assistant professor in
University of Tsukubais located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...
, Japan
1982 Professor in
University of Tsukubais located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...
, Japan
1991 Chief of Science and Engineering Department of Graduate School in
University of Tsukubais located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...
, Japan (- March,1993)
1994 Chief of Category #3 group in
University of Tsukubais located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...
, Japan (-March,1997)
Relatives
One of his relatives,
Hitomi Yoshizawais a former leader of the pop group Morning Musume and current member of the duo Hangry & Angry as Hangry. She is the current leader of the Hello! Project futsal team Gatas Brilhantes H.P...
, is a member of the singing group
Morning Musume, sometimes referred to as is a Japanese idol girl group, whose act generally revolves around singing and dancing to upbeat melodies. They are the lead group of Hello! Project, which is managed and produced by Tsunku, who composes nearly all the lyrics and melodies of their songs...
Morning Girls. He is also related to
Naoko Takahashiis a Japanese long-distance runner competing mainly in the marathon. She is widely known for her victory in the women's marathon at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, a performance that stands as the current Olympic record. At the 2001 Berlin Marathon, Takahashi became the first woman to break the 2...
, the women's marathon gold medalist of the
2000 Summer OlympicsThe Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
.
External links