Hideki Yukawa was born in Tokyo,
Japan, on 23rd January, 1907, the third son of Takuji Ogawa, who
later became Professor of Geology at Kyoto
University. The future Laureate was brought up in Kyoto and
graduated from the local university in 1929. Since that time he
has been engaged on investigations in theoretical physics,
particularly in the theory of elementary particles.
Between 1932 and 1939 he was a lecturer at the Kyoto University
and lecturer and Assistant Professor at the Osaka University.
Yukawa gained the D.Sc. degree in 1938 and from the following
year he has been, and still is, Professor of Theoretical Physics
at Kyoto University. While at Osaka University, in 1935, he
published a paper entitled "On the Interaction of Elementary
Particles. I." (Proc. Phys.-Math. Soc. Japan, 17, p. 48),
in which he proposed a new field theory of nuclear forces and
predicted the existence of the meson. Encouraged by the discovery
by American physicists of one type of meson in cosmic rays, in
1937, he devoted himself to the development of the meson theory,
on the basis of his original idea. Since 1947 he has been working
mainly on the general theory of elementary particles in
connection with the concept of the "non-local" field.
Yukawa was invited as Visiting Professor to the Institute for Advanced
Study at Princeton, U.S.A., in 1948, and since July, 1949 he
has been Visiting Professor at Columbia University, New York City.
The learned societies of his native land have recognised his
ability and he is a member of the Japan Academy, the Physical
Society and the Science Council of Japan, and is Emeritus
Professor of Osaka University. As Director of the Research
Institute for Fundamental Physics in Kyoto University he has his
office in the Yukawa Hall, which is named after him. He is also a
Foreign Associate of the American National Academy of Sciences and a Fellow
of the American
Physical Society.
The Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy was awarded to Yukawa in
1940; he received the Decoration of Cultural Merit in 1943, and
the crowning award, the Nobel Prize for Physics, in 1949.
A large number of scientific papers have been published by him
and many books, including Introduction to Quantum
Mechanics (1946) and Introduction to the Theory of
Elementary Particles (1948), both in Japanese, have come from
his pen. He has edited a journal in English, Progress of
Theoretical Physics, since 1946.
An honorary doctorate of the University of Paris and honorary
memberships of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the Indian Academy
of Sciences, the International Academy of Philosophy and
Sciences, and the Pontificia Academia Scientiarum have marked the
recognition he has earned in world scientific circles.
A civic honour was awarded to him when he was created Honorary
Citizen of the City of Kyoto, Japan.
In 1932 he married, and he and his wife Sumiko have two sons,
Harumi and Takaaki.
From Nobel Lectures, Physics 1942-1962, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1964
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Hideki Yukawa died on September 8, 1981.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1949
Hideki Yukawa
