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Leo Esaki
<html> <head> <title>Leo Esaki</title> <meta name="googlebot" content="noodp"> <meta name="robots" content="noodp"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" href="/silly-nndb-icon.png" /><style type="text/css"> <!-- .fotmbar { color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: none} .fotmbar:hover { color: #FFFFFF; text-decoration: underline} .newslink { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .newslink:hover { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .proflink { color: #000000; text-decoration: none} .proflink:hover { color: blue; text-decoration: underline} .b1f, .b2f, .b3f, .b4f {font-size:1px; overflow:hidden; display:block;} .b1f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 5px;} .b2f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 3px;} .b3f {height:1px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 2px;} .b4f {height:2px; background:#e6e6e6; margin:0 1px;} .contentf {background: #e6e6e6; padding: 2px; } .contentf div {margin-left: 5px;} --> </style></head> <body bgcolor=#ffffff> <center> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr><td valign=top><table width=550 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td bgcolor=white><table width="100%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" background="/nndb.gif"> <tr> <td rowspan="2" align="left" valign="top"><a href="http://www.nndb.com/"><img src="/title.gif" width="260" height="50" border=0 alt="NNDB"></a></td> <td><table width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6"> <tr align="center"> <td width="25%" nowrap><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This is a beta version of NNDB</font></b></td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> <tr> <td align="right" valign="middle"><b><font size="-1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <form action="http://search.nndb.com/search/nndb.cgi" method="get"> <input type="hidden" name="nndb" value="1"></input> <nobr>Search: <select name="omenu"> <option value="unspecified" selected>All Names</option> <option value="living">Living people</option> <option value="dead">Dead people</option> <option value="bands">Band Names</option> <option value="books">Book Titles</option> <option value="movies">Movie Titles</option> <option value="fulltext">Full Text</option> </select> for <input name="query" value="" size=24 maxlength=96> <input type=submit value="Search"> </font></b></nobr></form></td> </tr> </table> <!-- COPYRIGHT (C) 2008 SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS --> <!-- ALL RIGHTS RESERVED --> <!-- NO PART OF THIS WEBSITE MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION --> <!-- OF SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS (ON THE WEB, IN PRINT, OR OTHERWISE) --> <!-- --> <!-- SOYLENT COMMUNICATIONS --> <!-- PO BOX 4436, MOUNTAIN VIEW CA 94040 USA --> </td></tr><tr><td bgcolor=red height=2></td></tr><map name=fool><area coords="102,0,240,14" href="/people/880/000099583/bibliography/" alt="bibliography"></map><tr bgcolor=F0F0F0><td bgcolor=F0F0F0 style="padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px;"><img src="/red-profile-2.gif" align="right" height=15 width=240 border=0 usemap=#fool><br clear="all"><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width=100%><tr><td bgcolor=F0F0F0><font size=+3 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Leo Esaki</b></font><p><img src="leo-esaki-1-sized.jpg" height=298 width=220 align=right hspace=10 vspace=10 alt="Leo Esaki"><b>AKA</b> Esaki Reiona<p><b>Born:</b> <a href="/lists/589/000106271/" class=proflink>12-Mar</a>-<a href="/lists/924/000105609/" class=proflink>1925</a><br><b>Birthplace:</b> <a href="/geo/752/000097461/" class=proflink>Osaka, Japan</a><br><p><b>Gender:</b> Male<br><b>Race or Ethnicity:</b> Asian<br><b>Sexual orientation:</b> Straight<br><b>Occupation:</b> <a href="/lists/629/000096341/" class=proflink>Physicist</a><p><b>Nationality:</b> Japan<br><b>Executive summary:</b> Electron tunneling<p>Leo Esaki discovered the forward bias tunneling effect in semiconductors, a quantum phenomenon which lets electrons and other particles escape through a potential barrier, which theoretical physicists had previously believed was impossible. Tunneling is based on wave equations of quantum mechanics, instead of the classical theories of physics, wherein electrons are dealt with as particles.<p> His 1958 discovery of tunneling led to his invention two years later of the Esaki diode, the first quantum electron device, which uses quantum mechanical effects to allow electrons to pass through junctions less than a hundred atoms thick, and diminishes current as voltage is increased with negative resistance. He won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1973.<p><b>Father:</b> Soichiro Esaki (architect)<br><b>Mother:</b> Niyoko Ito<br><b>Wife:</b> Masako Araki (m. 1959, two daughters, one son)<br><b>Daughter:</b> Nina<br><b>Daughter:</b> Anna<br><b>Son:</b> Eugene<br><b>Wife:</b> Masako Kondo (m. 1986, no children)<br><p> High School: Third High School, Tokyo<br> University: <a href="/edu/281/000082035/">BS, Tokyo University (1947)</a><br> University: <a href="/edu/281/000082035/">PhD, Tokyo University (1959)</a><br> Teacher: <a href="/edu/620/000111287/">Adjunct Professor, Waseda University, Japan</a><br> Administrator: President, University of Tsukuba (1993-99)<br> Administrator: President, Shibaura Institute of Technology (2000-05)<br><p> <a href="/company/700/000042574/">IBM</a> Fellow (1967-92)<br> <a href="/company/700/000042574/">IBM</a> Research Scientist (1960-67)<br> <a href="/company/712/000053553/">Sony</a> Manager of Semiconductor Dept, Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (1956-60)<br> <u>Kobe Kogyo</u> Physicist (1947-56)<br> Member of the Board of <a href="/company/700/000042574/">IBM</a> IBM-Japan (1976-92)<br> Member of the Board of <u>Open Loop Ltd. (2000-)</u> <br> <u>Nishina Memorial Award</u> 1959<br> <u>Asahi Press Award</u> 1960<br> <u>Toyo Rayon Foundation Award</u> 1960<br> <u>IRE Morris Liebmann Memorial Award</u> 1961<br> <u>Franklin Institute Stuart Ballantine Medal</u> 1961<br> <u>The Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy</u> 1965<br> <a href="/honors/201/000067997/">Nobel Prize for Physics</a> 1973 (with <a href="/people/884/000099587/">Ivar Giaever</a> and <a href="/people/887/000099590/">Brian D. Josephson</a>)<br> <u>Japanese Order of Culture</u> 1974<br> <u>ACS International Prize for New Materials</u> 1985<br> <a href="/honors/958/000109631/">IEEE Medal of Honor</a> 1991<br> <a href="/honors/774/000196186/">Japan Prize</a> 1998<br> <a href="/honors/288/000130895/">Order of the Rising Sun</a> 1998<br> <a href="/org/811/000055646/">American Academy of Arts and Sciences</a> Foreign Fellow, 1974<br> <a href="/org/640/000052484/">American Philosophical Society</a> Foreign Member, 1991<br> <u>Italian National Academy of Science</u> Foreign Member<br> <u>The Japan Academy</u> 1975<br> <u>Korean Academy of Science and Technology</u> Foreign Member<br> <u>Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science</u> Foreign Member, 1989<br> <a href="/org/062/000116711/">National Academy of Engineering</a> Foreign Associate, 1977<br> <a href="/org/858/000099561/">Russian Academy of Sciences</a> Foreign Member<br> <u>Yamada Science Foundation</u> Board of Driectors, 1976-present<br> <p> <b>Author of books:</b><br> <i>Large Scale Integrated Circuits Technology</i> (<tt>1982</tt>, physics; with Giovanni Soncini)<br><p> <br> <p> <table> <tr> <td align=right valign=middle style="padding-right: 5px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 22px; font-style: italic; color: #ff3333;">New!</span><br> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/" class="fotmlink" style="font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; color: #dd0000;">NNDB MAPPER</a></td> <td valign=middle align=right style="border-left: 1px solid #bbb; padding-left: 5px;">Create a map starting with</td> <td valign=middle align=right><a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=99583"><img src="/man.gif" border=0 style="padding: 2px;"></a></td> <td align=left valign=middle> <a href="http://mapper.nndb.com/start/?id=99583">Leo Esaki</a></td> </tr> </table> <font face="Trebuchet MS, arial, helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2">Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.</font> <br><br><p> <font size=-1>Do you know something we don't?</font><br> <font size=-1><a href="http://commentary.nndb.com/submit/feedback/?id=99583" rel="nofollow">Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile</a></font><br> <p> <br><br><p><font size=-1>Copyright ©2019 Soylent Communications</font><p> </td></tr></table> </td></tr> </table> </td> <td width=180 align="center" valign="top" style="padding: 0px 0px 8px 25px;"></td></tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>