Takaaki Kajita

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Takaaki Kajita

| native_name = 梶田隆章

| native_name_lang = ja

| image = Takaaki Kajita cropped 1 Takaaki Kajita 202010.jpg

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| caption = Kajita in 2017

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|3|9|df=y}}

| birth_place = Higashimatsuyama, Saitama, Japan

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| workplaces = Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, University of Tokyo

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| education = Saitama Prefectural Kawagoe High School

| alma_mater = Saitama University (BS)
University of Tokyo (MS, PhD)

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| doctoral_advisor = Masatoshi Koshiba

| academic_advisors = Yoji Totsuka

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| awards = Asahi Prize (1988)
Bruno Rossi Prize (1989)
Nishina Memorial Prize (1999)
Panofsky Prize (2002)
Japan Academy Prize (2012)
Nobel Prize in Physics (2015)
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics (2016)

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| spouse = Michiko

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}}

{{Nihongo|Takaaki Kajita|梶田隆章|Kajita Takaaki|{{IPA|ja|kadʑita takaːki}}; born 9 March 1959}} is a Japanese physicist, known for neutrino experiments at the Kamioka Observatory – Kamiokande and its successor, Super-Kamiokande. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Canadian physicist Arthur B. McDonald. On 1 October 2020, he became the president of the Science Council of Japan.

Early life and education

Kajita was born in 1959 in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama, Japan.{{cite web | url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2015/kajita-facts.html | title=Takaaki Kajita - Facts | publisher=Nobel Foundation | date=6 October 2015 | access-date=6 October 2015}} He liked studying thought rather than memorizing, especially with interest in physics, biology, world history, Japanese history, and earth science in high school. He studied physics at Saitama University and graduated in 1981. He received his doctorate in 1986 at the University of Tokyo.{{cite web | url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/06/national/jjapans-takaaki-kajita-shares-nobel-prize-in-physics/ | title=Japan's Takaaki Kajita shares Nobel in physics | publisher=Japan Times | date=6 October 2015 | access-date=7 October 2015}} At the University of Tokyo, he joined Masatoshi Koshiba's research group because neutrinos "seemed like they might be interesting."

Career and research

Since 1988, Kajita has been at the Institute for Cosmic Radiation Research, University of Tokyo, where he became an assistant professor in 1992 and professor in 1999.{{cite web | url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/nobel-prize-physics-2015-1.3258178 | title=2015 Nobel Prize in Physics: Canadian Arthur B. McDonald shares win with Japan's Takaaki Kajita | publisher=CBC News | date=6 October 2015 | access-date=6 October 2015}}

He became director of the Center for Cosmic Neutrinos at the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research (ICRR) in 1999. {{As of|2017}}, he is a Principal Investigator at the Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe in Tokyo, and Director of ICRR.{{cite web |title=About ICRR |publisher=Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo |url=http://www.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/about/greeting_eng.html}}

In 1998, Kajita's team at the Super-Kamiokande found that when cosmic rays hit the Earth's atmosphere, the resulting neutrinos switched between two flavours before they reached the detector under Mt. Kamioka.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/oct/06/kajita-and-mcdonald-win-nobel-physics-prize-for-work-on-neutrinos | title=Kajita and McDonald win Nobel physics prize for work on neutrinos | work=The Guardian | date=6 October 2015 | access-date=6 October 2015 | author=Randerson, James and Ian Sample}} This discovery helped prove the existence of neutrino oscillation and that neutrinos have mass. In 2015, Kajita shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Canadian physicist Arthur McDonald, whose Sudbury Neutrino Observatory discovered similar results. Kajita's and McDonald's work solved the longstanding Solar neutrino problem, which was a major discrepancy between the predicted and measured Solar neutrino fluxes, and indicated that the Standard Model, which required neutrinos to be massless, had weaknesses. In a news conference at the University of Tokyo, shortly after the Nobel announcement, Kajita said, "I want to thank the neutrinos, of course. And since neutrinos are created by cosmic rays, I want to thank them, too."{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/science/nobel-prize-physics-takaaki-kajita-arthur-b-mcdonald.html | title=Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald Share Nobel in Physics for Work on Neutrinos | work=New York Times | date=6 October 2015 | access-date=6 October 2015 | author=Overbye, Dennis}}

One of the first people Kajita called after receiving the Nobel Prize was 2002 Nobel physics laureate Masatoshi Koshiba, his former mentor and a fellow neutrino researcher.

Kajita is currently the principal investigator of another ICRR project located at the Kamioka Observatory, the KAGRA gravitational wave detector.{{cite press release |title=Professor Kajita won the novel prize in physics !! |url=http://gwcenter.icrr.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/archives/1169 |date=7 October 2015 |quote=Professor Kajita, who is the PI of KAGRA, won the Nobel prize in physics !! |publisher=KAGRA collaboration}}

Recognition

File:Takaaki Kajita 0195.jpg, 2015]]

= Awards =

1987 – Asahi Prize as part of Kamiokande (Representative – Masatoshi Koshiba){{cite web|title=Recipients of the Asahi Prize |url= http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/asahi/english.html#1987 |publisher=Asahi Shimbun |access-date= 12 August 2016 }}
1989 – Bruno Rossi Prize along with the other members of the Kamiokande collaboration{{cite web|title=HEAD AAS Rossi Prize Winners |url= https://head.aas.org/rossi/rossi.recip.html |publisher=Home High Energy Astrophysics Division |access-date= 12 August 2016 }}
1998 – Asahi Prize as part of Super-Kamiokande (Representative – Yoji Totsuka){{cite web|title=Recipients of the Asahi Prize |url= http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/asahi/english.html#1998 |publisher=Asahi Shimbun |access-date= 12 August 2016 }}
1999 – Nishina Memorial Prize{{cite web|title= Recipients of Nishina Memorial Prizes |url= http://www.nishina-mf.or.jp/NishinaMemorialPrize-E.html |publisher=Nishina Memorial Foundation |access-date= 12 August 2016 }}
2002 – Panofsky Prize for compelling experimental evidence for neutrino oscillations using atmospheric neutrinos{{cite web|title=2002 W.K.H. Panofsky Prize in Experimental Particle Physics Recipient |url= http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?last_nm=Kajita&first_nm=Takaaki&year=2002 |publisher=American Physical Society |access-date= 12 August 2016 }}
2010 – Yoji Totsuka Award{{cite web|title=第１回「戸塚洋二賞」選考結果|url=http://www.hfbs.or.jp/1st-orito-totsuka-prize-result.html|publisher=Heisei Foundation for Basic Science|access-date=17 November 2015|date=24 February 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306045643/http://www.hfbs.or.jp/1st-orito-totsuka-prize-result.html|archive-date=6 March 2016}}{{in lang|ja}}
2012 – Japan Academy Prize for "Discovery of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations"{{cite web|title= The Imperial Prize, Japan Academy Prize, Duke of Edinburgh Prize Recipients |url=http://www.japan-acad.go.jp/en/activities/jyusho/101to110.html |publisher=Japan Academy |access-date= 12 August 2016 |date=4 June 2012}}{{cite web|title= Japan Academy Prize to – Takaaki Kajita |url=http://www.japan-acad.go.jp/pdf/youshi/102en/kajita.pdf |publisher=Japan Academy |access-date= 12 August 2016 |date=4 June 2012}}
2013 – Julius Wess Award for his "significant role in the Discovery of Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations with the Super-KAMIOKANDE Experiment."{{cite web|title=Julius Wess Award to Takaaki Kajita|work=Kavli IPMU-カブリ数物連携宇宙研究機構 |url=http://www.ipmu.jp/node/1767|publisher=Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe|access-date=17 November 2015|date=27 November 2013}}
2015 – Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Arthur B. McDonald for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass.[https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2015/ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015".]. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 6 October 2015.
2016 – Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics{{Cite press release |url=https://breakthroughprize.org/News/29 |title=Breakthrough Prize Awarded $22 Million In Science Prizes |location=San Francisco |date=8 November 2015 |publisher=Fundamental Physics Prize}}
2016 – Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist{{cite web |url=https://www.asianscientist.com/as100/ |title=The Asian Scientist 100 |author= |date= |website= |publisher= Asian Scientist |access-date= 13 March 2025 |quote= |language= }}
2019 – Homi Bhabha Medal and Prize

= Honors =

2015 – Order of Culture, Person of Cultural Merit
2016 – Doctorate in Science (DSc), Aligarh Muslim University, India{{cite web|last1=Azeem|first1=Ahmad|title=Nobel Laureate Takaaki Kajita conferred DSc at AMU's 64th convocation|url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/takaaki-kajita-nobel-laureate-nuclear-physicist-amu-dsc-annual-convocation/1/800095.html|website=India Today|date=November 2016 |access-date=1 November 2016}}
2016 – Honoris Causa Degree in Physics, University of Padua{{cite news |date=9 September 2016 |title=Padova University, laurea honors causa al Premio Nobel Takaaki Kajita |url=https://mediaspace.unipd.it/media/Takaaki+Kajita+laurea+ad+honorem/1_o9dcfr4e/90837451 |access-date=13 March 2024 |publisher=}}
2016 – Honoris Causa Degree, Higher University of San Andrés, La Paz, Bolivia.{{cite web|url=http://www.paginasiete.bo/sociedad/2016/5/3/kajita-emociones-ciencia-esperan-jovenes-bolivianos-95234.html|title=Kajita: Emociones de la ciencia esperan a los jóvenes bolivianos|publisher=Página Siete|date=3 May 2016|access-date=10 October 2019}}
2017 – Honoris Causa Degree in Physics, University of Naples Federico II{{cite news|url=http://www.ilmattino.it/napoli/cultura/federico_ii_laurea_honors_causa_al_premio_nobel_takaaki_kajita-2227113.html|title=Federico II, laurea honors causa al Premio Nobel Takaaki Kajita|publisher=Il Mattino|date=30 January 2017|access-date=10 October 2019}}
2017 – Honoris Causa Degree in Physics, University of Bern{{cite web|url=http://www.unibe.ch/university/university_for_everyone/dies_academicus/dies_academicus_2017/honors/index_eng.html|title=Honors|publisher=University of Bern|year=2017|access-date=10 October 2019|archive-date=8 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180108064258/https://www.unibe.ch/university/university_for_everyone/dies_academicus/dies_academicus_2017/honors/index_eng.html}}
2017 – Honoris Causa Degree in Physics, University of Perugia{{cite web|url=https://www.bacheca.unipg.it/vita-accademica/1705-laurea-honoris-causa-a-takaaki-kajita|title= Laurea Honoris Causa a Takaaki Kajita |work= Bacheca |publisher=University of Perugia|year=2017|access-date=4 October 2021}}
2024 – Honorary Doctor of Science, University of Glasgow{{Cite web |title=University of Glasgow Honorary Degrees 2024 |url=https://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_1058920_en.html |access-date=2024-10-30 |website=www.gla.ac.uk |language=en}}

References

External links

{{Official website|http://www.ipmu.jp/takaaki-kajita}}
[http://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/prizerecipient.cfm?first_nm=Takaaki&last_nm=Kajita&year=2002 Panofsky Preis]
[https://www.kceta.kit.edu/julius-wess-preis-2013.php Verleihung des Julius Wess Preises 2013 mit Vortrag von Kajita]
[http://sciencechannel.jst.go.jp/Q120001/detail/Q120001007.html KAGRA, the Latest "Gravitational Wave Telescope" Project, Commences via JST Science News 2012]
[http://www.rugusavay.com/takaaki-kajita-quotes-with-pictures/ Takaaki Kajita Quotes With Pictures]
Interview with Takaaki Kajita, on Editage Insights: [http://www.editage.com/insights/nobel-laureate-takaaki-kajita-in-my-days-nobody-felt-rushed-just-because-research-was-making-slow-progress In my days, nobody felt rushed just because research was making slow progress]
{{Nobelprize}}