Nobel Prize

Ancestry I was born on June 24, 1953 at Parks Air Force Base in Pleasanton, California, a city in the eastern region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Although this qualifies me as a California native, after only six weeks, my parents took me back to their home in San Antonio, Texas. From birth, my…

I was born on 23 December 1962 in Arad, a medium-sized, ethnically diverse city in the western part of Romania, directly on the border to Hungary. In those days, Romanian, Hungarian and German were the languages that could be heard on the street in a frequent mix, and most locals – including simple folk -…

I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a university town. Even though my parents were not affiliated with the university while I was growing up, I think that environment and the people I encountered there really contributed to my latching on to science. My Dad went to the University of Michigan as a…

“He can’t even throw a baseball!” was the way my cousin Harvey greeted me soon after my birth on May 8, 1947. Looking forward to a fellow athlete, Harvey, age three, found me ill prepared for sports. I suspect the disappointment continued, as Harvey progressed to become one of the star little league players in…

Becoming an economist: From early preparation to my new directionFor decades, my research was driven by outstanding problems in macroeconomics: mainly growth theory and employment theory. Then, around 1990, my research turned to the study of economic systems and my development as an economist took on added dimensions. This biography will start with my student…

Shuji Nakamura was born on May 22, 1954 in Oku, a tiny fishing village on the Pacific coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan’s four main islands. Farming is the principle occupation in Oku. Local farmers grow yams on steps cut into steep hillsides. Shuji’s maternal grandparents owned such a farm. To get to the…

I was born in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, on September 11, 1960, to my father Tatsuji and mother Yoshiko, and I grew up with younger brother Takashi. Hamamatsu is famous as the birthplace of Professor Kenjiro Takayanagi, a Japanese pioneer in the development of television, who succeeded in transmitting the first Katakana character “イ” by wireless…

CURRICULUM VITAE Education Mar. 52: B. Sc., Kyoto University. Mar. 64: Dr. Eng. (Electronics), Nagoya University. Employment, Academic Appointments Apr. 52–Mar. 59: Research staff, Kobe Kogyo Corporation (now Fujitsu Ltd.). Apr. 59–Mar. 64: Research Associate, Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, Department of Electronics, Nagoya University. Apr. 64–Apr. 74: Head, Fundamental Research Laboratory-4, Matsushita Research Institute…

Richard F. Heck: Nobel Laureate in Chemistry by Luke R. Odell and Mats Larhed Richard F. Heck was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.A. on August 15, 1931. The only son of a housewife and a salesman, he moved to Los Angeles, California at the age of eight. His passion for chemistry began in his early…

I was born in Rome, Italy, the son of Enrico Modigliani and Olga Flaschel. My father was a leading pediatrician in the city and my mother was a volunteer social worker. My school performance in the early years was good though not outstanding. Then, in 1932, a major trauma occurred. My father died as a…