No. 37 Nobel Prize in Physics

(Published in the November 15, 2014 issue of Koho Inagi)

　This year's Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Isamu Akasaki, a professor at Meijo University who developed the blue light-emitting diode (LED), Hiroshi Amano, a professor at Nagoya University, and Shuji Nakamura, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Mr. Akasaki and Mr. Amano had a teacher-pupil relationship in their laboratory at Nagoya University, and were the first in the world to succeed in developing blue LEDs, after which Mr. Nakamura established the technology for mass production. In the case of joint research by multiple people, or in cases where the award is based on the achievements of multiple people but not jointly, up to three people can receive the award at a time, and this time all of them received the award at the same time.
The Nobel Prize is an award system that was started based on the will of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, and has six categories.
Including this award, Japan has won a total of 22 awards: 10 in Physics, 7 in Science, 2 in Physiology or Medicine, 2 in Literature, and 1 in Peace, and no Economics Prize yet.
Nobel's will was to establish a fund of cashable property, and to give the annual interest as a prize to the person who had contributed the most to humanity during the previous year.
With this aim in mind, we would like to pay our respects to all Nobel Prize winners who have contributed to the development of humanity and society, but this time the award was awarded to Japanese researchers who have achieved everything from basic research to practical application. , I'm especially proud of it.
Regarding the development of science and technology, in Japan and the United States, research policies are established for the development of science itself, but in other countries, there seems to be a view that research policies are carried out for the purpose of economic development. Regardless of whether it is true or not, Japan has been investing a huge amount of money into basic research since enacting the Science and Technology Basic Act in 1995, and it seems that the results of that effort are showing up.
Although the total number of Nobel Prizes won by Japan is not comparable to that of Europe and the United States, since 2000 Japan has been winning awards one after another in the three natural science fields, showing a certain presence. Some say that Japan has a lot of research funding and a strong information network with the world, so we can expect even more.
However, we are not investing in research to increase the number of Nobel Prizes won. Only by enriching the educational and research environments for young people will we be able to reproduce the human resources that support "manufacturing Japan."Investing in people is important for resource-poor Japan to prosper into the future. I feel that it is.
In recent years, there have been issues in education such as young people turning away from science and a decline in the number of international students, but many children are engaging in academic studies with a pure heart, and the results of their efforts have contributed to the prosperity of the country, resulting in them winning the Nobel Prize. We must lay the foundation so that the number of people will increase.
Upon receiving the news of this award, we are reminded of the importance of continuing to deepen our collaboration with the Board of Education and working towards the education of Inagi's children, who will be responsible for the future.