List of Japanese Nobel laureates and nominees

Since 1949, there have been 29 Japanese laureates of the Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize is a Sweden-based international monetary prize. The award was established by the 1895 will and estate of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel. It was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901. An associated prize, thus far, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, also sometimes known as the Nobel Prize in Economics, has yet to be awarded to a Japanese national.

The Japanese Nobel Prize Laureate (2010) Akira Suzuki and Ei-ichi Negishi

The Nobel Prizes in the above specific sciences disciplines and the Prize in Economics, which is commonly identified with them, are widely regarded as the most prestigious award one can receive in those fields.[1][2] Of Japanese winners, twelve have been physicists, eight chemists, three for literature, five for physiology or medicine, and one for efforts towards peace.[2]

In the 21st century, in the field of natural science, the number of Japanese winners of the Nobel Prize has been second behind the U.S.

Summary

Number of Nobel laureates by category
CategoryJapanese citizensOthers born as Japanese citizensTotalRemarks
Physics9312Yoichiro Nambu, Shuji Nakamura, and Syukuro Manabe became American citizens.
Chemistry8-8Ei-ichi Negishi was born in Manchuria
Physiology or Medicine5-5
Literature213Kazuo Ishiguro became a British citizen in 1983.[3][4]
Peace1-1
Total25429

Laureates

Aside from the 29 Japanese Nobel laureates, a number of Japanese individuals and Japan-based organizations were affiliated with laureate organizations to which they contributed largely and were active members at the time they were awarded:

YearImageLaureateBornDiedFieldCitationUndergraduate degree awarded by
Citizens
1949 Hideki Yukawa23 January 1907
Tokyo, Japan
8 September 1981
Kyoto, Japan
Physics"for his prediction of the existence of mesons on the basis of theoretical work on nuclear forces."[12]Kyoto
1965 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga31 March 1906
Tokyo, Japan
8 July 1979
Tokyo, Japan
Physics"for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics, with deep-ploughing consequences for the physics of elementary particles."[13] (jointly with American theoretical physicists Julian Schwinger and Richard Feynman)Kyoto
1968 Yasunari Kawabata11 June 1899
Osaka, Japan
16 April 1972
Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan
Literature"for his narrative mastery, which with great sensibility expresses the essence of the Japanese mind."[14]Tokyo
1973 Leo Esaki12 March 1925
Takaida, Higashiōsaka, Osaka, Japan
Physics"for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively."[15] (jointly with Norwegian-American physicist Ivar Giaever and shared with Welsh theoretical physicist Brian David Josephson)Tokyo
1974 Eisaku Satō27 March 1901
Tabuse, Yamaguchi, Japan
3 June 1975
Tokyo, Japan
Peace"for his contribution to stabilize conditions in the Pacific rim area and for signing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."[16] (shared with Irish politician Seán MacBride)Tokyo
1981 Kenichi Fukui4 October 1918
Ikoma, Nara, Japan
9 January 1998
Kyoto, Japan
Chemistry"for their theories, developed independently, concerning the course of chemical reactions."[17] (jointly with Polish-American theoretical chemist Roald Hoffmann)Kyoto
1987 Susumu Tonegawa5 September 1939
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Physiology or Medicine"for his discovery of the genetic principle for generation of antibody diversity."[18]Kyoto
1994 Kenzaburō Ōe31 January 1935
Ōse, Ehime, Japan
3 March 2023
Tokyo, Japan
Literature"who with poetic force creates an imagined world, where life and myth condense to form a disconcerting picture of the human predicament today."[19]Tokyo
2000 Hideki Shirakawa20 August 1936
Tokyo, Japan
Chemistry"for their discovery and development of conductive polymers."[20] (jointly with American chemist Alan MacDiarmid and physicist Alan J. Heeger)Tokyo Tech
2001 Ryōji Noyori3 September 1938
Ashiya, Hyōgo, Japan
Chemistry"for their work on chirally catalysed hydrogenation reactions."[21] (jointly with American chemist William S. Knowles and shared with American chemist K. Barry Sharpless)Kyoto
2002 Masatoshi Koshiba19 September 1926
Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan
12 November 2020
Tokyo, Japan
Physics"for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, in particular for the detection of cosmic neutrinos."[22] (jointly with American chemist Raymond Davis Jr. and shared with Italian-American Riccardo Giacconi)Tokyo
Koichi Tanaka3 August 1959
Toyama, Japan
Chemistry"for the development of methods for identification and structure analyses of biological macromolecules... [and] for their development of soft desorption ionisation methods for mass spectrometric analyses of biological macromolecules."[23] (jointly with American analytical chemist John B. Fenn and Swiss chemist Kurt Wüthrich)Tohoku
2008 Makoto Kobayashi7 April 1944
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Physics"for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."[24] (shared with Japanese-American physicist Yoichiro Nambu)Nagoya
Toshihide Maskawa7 February 1940
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
23 July 2021
Kyoto, Japan
Nagoya
Osamu Shimomura27 August 1928
Fukuchiyama, Kyoto, Japan
19 October 2018
Nagasaki, Japan
Chemistry"for the discovery and development of the green fluorescent protein, GFP."[25] (jointly with American neurobiologist Martin Chalfie and biochemist Roger Y. Tsien)Nagasaki
2010 Ei-ichi Negishi14 July 1935
Changchun, Jilin, China
6 June 2021
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Chemistry"for palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis."[26] (jointly with American chemist Richard F. Heck)Tokyo
Akira Suzuki12 September 1930
Mukawa, Hokkaido, Japan
Hokkaido
2012 Shinya Yamanaka4 September 1962
Higashiōsaka, Osaka, Japan
Physiology or Medicine"for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent."[27] (jointly with British developmental biologist John B. Gurdon)Kobe
2014 Isamu Akasaki30 January 1929
Chiran, Kagoshima, Japan
1 April 2021
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Physics"for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources."[28] (jointly with Japanese-born American Shuji Nakamura)Kyoto
Hiroshi Amano11 September 1960
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan
Nagoya
2015 Satoshi Ōmura12 July 1935
Nirasaki, Yamanashi, Japan
Physiology or Medicine"for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites."[29] (jointly with Irish-American parasitologist William C. Campbell and shared with Chinese pharmaceutical chemist Tu Youyou)Yamanashi
Takaaki Kajita9 March 1959
Higashimatsuyama, Saitama, Japan
Physics"for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass."[30] (jointly with Canadian astrophysicist Arthur B. McDonald)Saitama
2016 Yoshinori Ohsumi9 February 1945
Fukuoka, Japan
Physiology or Medicine"for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy."[31]Tokyo
2018 Tasuku Honjo27 January 1942
Kyoto, Japan
Physiology or Medicine"for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation."[32] (jointly with American immunologist James P. Allison)Kyoto
2019 Akira Yoshino30 January 1948
Osaka, Japan
Chemistry"for the development of lithium ion batteries."[33] (jointly with American materials scientist John B. Goodenough and British-American chemist M. Stanley Whittingham)Kyoto
Diaspora[f]
1987Charles J. Pedersen[g]3 October 1904
Busan, South Korea
26 October 1989
Salem, New Jersey, United States
Chemistry"for their development and use of molecules with structure-specific interactions of high selectivity."[34] (jointly with American chemist Donald J. Cram and French chemist Jean-Marie Lehn)Dayton
2008 Yoichiro Nambu18 January 1921
Tokyo, Japan
5 July 2015
Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan
Physics"for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics."[24] (jointly with Japanese physicists Toshihide Maskawa and Makoto Kobayashi)Tokyo
2014 Shuji Nakamura22 May 1954
Ikata, Ehime, Japan
Physics"for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes which has enabled bright and energy-saving white light sources."[28] (jointly with Japanese physicists Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano)Tokushima
2017 Kazuo Ishiguro8 November 1954
Nagasaki, Japan
Literature"who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world."[35]Kent
2021 Syukuro Manabe21 September 1931
Uma, Ehime, Japan
Physics"for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming."[36] (jointly with German climate modeller Klaus Hasselmann and shared with Italian theoretical physicist Giorgio Parisi)Tokyo

Nominees

ImageNominee[37]BornDiedYears
Nominated
CitationNominator(s)
Physics
Kotaro Honda24 March 1870
Okazaki, Aichi, Japan
12 February 1954
Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan
1932"for his invention of KS steel which had 250 oersteds magnetic resistance and developed through rigorous basic research on steel and alloys."[38]Seiji Nakamura
(1869–1960)
 Japan
Junzo Okubo (?)
 Japan
Hikoo Saegusa
(1890–1948)
 Japan
Hideki Yukawa23 January 1907
Tokyo, Japan
8 September 1981
Kyoto, Japan
1940"for his research on elementary particles, particularly for the prediction of a new particle called mesons based on a proposed theory on strong and weak nuclear forces."[39]Hantaro Nagaoka
(1865–1950)
 Japan
Dirk Coster
(1889–1950)
 Netherlands
1941Toshizo Matsumoto (?)
 Japan
1943, 1944 Louis de Broglie
(1892–1987)
 France
1945Maurice de Broglie
(1875–1960)
 France
1946Jean Thibaud
(1901–1960)
 France
1946, 1948Gregor Wentzel
(1898–1978)
 Germany
1948Marcel Schein
(1902–1960)
 United States
1949 Theodor Svedberg et al.[h]
(1884–1971)
 Sweden
Otto Stern
(1888–1969) et al.  Germany
1950 Harold Urey
(1893–1981)
 United States
Harald Wergeland
(1912–1987)
 Norway
Shin'ichirō Tomonaga31 March 1906
Tokyo, Japan
8 July 1979
Tokyo, Japan
1951"for his fundamental contributions in the development of quantum electrodynamics and for discovering the renormalization method."[40]Takahiko Yamanouchi
(1902–1986)
 Japan
Samuel Devons
(1914–2006)
 United Kingdom
1952 Hideki Yukawa
(1907–1981)
 Japan
1955Isao Imai
(1914–2004)
1956 Carl D. Anderson
(1905–1991)
 United States
Robert Bacher
(1905–2004)
 United States
Robert F. Christy
(1916–2012)
 United States
1957Helmut Hönl
(1903–1981)
 Germany
Leonard I. Schiff
(1915–1971)
 United States
1960 Norman F. Ramsey Jr.
(1915–2011)
 United States
1962A. K. Dutta (?)
 India
1963Sidney Drell
(1926–016)
 United States
1964Hans-Arwed Weidenmüller
(born 1933)
 Germany
W. Wessel (?)
 Germany
1965Alfred K. Mann
(1920–2013)
 United States
Kazuhiko Nishijima4 October 1926
Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, Japan
15 February 2009
Tokyo, Japan
1960"for his contributions to particle physics, particularly on his work on the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula, and the concept of strangeness, which he called the "eta-charge" or "η-charge", after the eta meson."[41]Marian Günther
(1928–?)
 Poland
1961Frederick Seitz
(1911–2008)
 United States
1964G. Höhler (?)
 Germany
1966W. Theis (?)
 Germany
1967Sergio DeBenedetti (?)
 United States
F. Cap (?)
 Austria
1968Yoichiro Nambu
(1921–2015)
 Japan
Jun John Sakurai
(1933–1982)
 United States
1969H. Pierre Noyes
(born 1923)
 France
Bunji Sakita
(1930–2002)
 Japan
Haakon A. Olsen
(1923–2010)
 Norway
1970 Hideki Yukawa
(1907–1981)
 Japan
Tadao Nakano1926
Tokyo, Japan
15 August 2004
1961"his collaborative work with Nishijima on the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula and quark model."[42]Frederick Seitz
(1911–2008)
 United States
1970 Hideki Yukawa
(1907–1981)
 Japan
Susumu Okubo20 February 1930
Tokyo, Japan
17 July 2015
Rochester, New York, United States
1965"for the Gell-Mann–Okubo mass formula for mesons and baryons in the quark model whichpredicts the relations of masses of the members of SU(3) multiplets in terms of hypercharge and isotopic spin."[43]Robert Marshak
(1916–1992)
 United States
Yoshio Ōnuki7 November 1928
Tochigi, Japan
1965, 1966"for his research on the Sakata model based on the Yamaguchi-Ogawa-Ohnuki symmetry determining that hidden particles are equivalent to each other."[44]Gordon Sutherland
(1907–1980)
 United Kingdom
Sigenori Miyamoto20 October 1931
Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan
31 December 2017
Japan
1966[45]Y. Nogami (?)
 Japan
Shuji Fukui19 August 1923
Osaka, Japan
4 May 2018
Japan
1966"for developing a "discharge chamber" (later called "spark chamber") that observes the tracks of high-energy charged particles."[46]
Leo Esaki12 March 1925
Takaida, Higashiōsaka, Osaka, Japan
1968"for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials which finally led to his invention of the Esaki diode, which exploited that phenomenon."[47] John Bardeen
(1908–1991)
 United States
Hiroomi Umezawa20 September 1924
Kuki, Saitama, Japan
24 March 1995
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1968"for his fundamental contributions to quantum field theory and for his work on quantum phenomena in relation to the mind."[48]Eduardo R. Caianiello
(1921–1993)
 Italy
Jun Kondō6 February 1930
Tokyo, Japan
11 March 2022
Suginami, Tokyo, Japan
1969"for his research on the Kondo effect, a scattering of conduction electrons in a metal due to magnetic impurities, resulting in a characteristic change."[49]Osmund Dorenfeldt Jenssen
(1923–2009)
 Norway
Ryogo Kubo15 February 1920
Tokyo, Japan
31 March 1995
Tokyo, Japan
1970"for his works in statistical physics, particularly on non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and the theory of fluctuation phenomena."[50]Yoshio Yamaguchi
(1926–2016)
 Japan
Shoichi Sakata18 January 1911
Tokyo, Japan
16 December 1970
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
1970"for his research on subatomic particles and the two meson theory: the Sakata model and the Pontecorvo–Maki–Nakagawa–Sakata neutrino mixing matrix."[51] Hideki Yukawa
(1907–1981)
 Japan
Physiology or Medicine
Kitasato Shibasaburō29 January 1853
Oguni, Kumamoto, Japan
13 June 1931
Tokyo, Japan
1901"for his discovery the plague bacillus, independently of Alexandre Yersin."[52]A. de Bokay (?)
 Austria-Hungary
Oscar Loew*2 April 1844
Marktredwitz, Bavaria, Germany
26 January 1941
Berlin, Germany
1912"for his discovery of the antibacterial effect of formaldehyde."[53]Rudolph Emmerich
(1856–1914)
 Germany
Sahachiro Hata23 March 1873
Masuda, Shimane, Japan
22 November 1938
Tokyo, Japan
1912"for his work on chemotherapy."[54]Hayazō Itō
(1864–1929)
 Japan
1913"for the development of a drug against spirillosis."[54]Gakutaro Osawa
(1863–1920)
 Japan
Umetaro Suzuki7 April 1874
Makinohara, Shizuoka, Japan
20 September 1943
Tokyo, Japan
1914"for his work on essential substances in rice and their importance in beri-beri."[55]Wolfgang Heubner
(1877–1957)
 Germany
Ryukichi Inada18 March 1874
Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
27 February 1950
Tokyo, Japan
1919"for their discovery of the spirochaete of hemorrhagic icterus."[56][57]Louis Martin
(1864–1946)
 France
Ido1919
Yamagiwa Katsusaburō23 February 1863
Ueda, Nagano, Japan
2 March 1930
Tokyo, Japan
1925"for his work on epithelial tumors."[58]Harno Hayashi (?)
 Japan
Matarō Nagayo
(1878–1941)
 Japan
C. Yokote (?)
 Japan
Shūzō Kure
(1865–1932)
 Japan
1926"for his research on experimentally induced tumors."[58]Ludwig Aschoff
(1866–1942)
 Germany
1928"for being the first to show that malignant tumors, carcinoma and sarcoma, could be produced by application of tar to the tissues of certain mammals."[58]Alexander A. Maximow
(1874–1928)
 United States
1936"for his work on the production of tumors with chemical substances."[58]R. Kimura (?)
 Japan
Genichi Kato11 February 1890
Niimi, Okayama, Japan
1 May 1979
Niimi, Okayama, Japan
1928"for his investigations in the field of nerve-muscle physiology and establishing a new theory of decrementless conduction of nerve impulses."[59]Sahachiro Hata
(1873–1938)
 Japan
13 Japanese physicians
1935"for his work on the isolation of single nerve fibers and muscle fibers and demonstration of the existence of reflex excitatory fibers and reflex inhibitory fibers."[59]23 Japanese physicians[i]
Ivan Pavlov
(1849–1936)
 Soviet Union
1937"for his work on the microphysiology of nerve muscle."[59]Mariano Rafael Castex
(1886–1968)
 Argentina
Ken Kuré27 October 1883
Tokyo, Japan
27 June 1940
Tokyo, Japan
1931, 1937"for his work on the tonic and trophic innervation of voluntary muscles and spinal parasympathicus, and progressive muscular dystrophy."[60]M. Itagaki (?)
 Japan
1933Seizaburo Nasu (?)
 Japan
O. Kimura (?)
 Japan
1935Tomosaburō Ogata
(1883–1973)
 Japan
19 Japanese physicians
Ivan Pavlov
(1849–1936)
 Soviet Union
1936"for his work on the autonomous innervation of skeletal muscle, progressive muscular dystrophy and spinal parasympaticus."[60]H. Okabayashi (?)
 Japan
1937N. Onodera (?)
 Japan
1939"for his work on the autonomous innervation of skeleton muscle and progressive muscular dystrophy."[60]Naomi Kageura (?)
 Japan
Takaoki Sasaki5 May 1878
Tokyo, Japan
31 October 1966
Tokyo, Japan
1935"for his work on the production of tumors with chemical substances."[61]Kenzo Tamura (?)
 Japan
Kunihiko Hashida
(1882–1945)
 Japan
1936R. Kimura (?)
 Japan
C. Ogawa (?)
 Japan
1939"for his work on experimentally induced liver tumors using chemical means (o-amidoazotoluol)."[61]S. Tsunoo (?)
 Japan
K. Hirai (?)
 Japan
T. Naito (?)
 Japan
Literature
Toyohiko Kagawa10 July 1888
Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
23 April 1960
Tokyo, Japan
1947A Shooter at the Sun (1925)
Love - The Law of Life (1930)
Meditations on the Cross (1935)
Songs from the Slums (1935)
Brotherhood Economics (1936)[62]
Knut B. Westman
(1881–1967)
 Sweden
1948Sven Hedin
(1865–1952)
 Sweden
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki24 July 1886
Tokyo, Japan
30 July 1965
Yugawara, Kanagawa, Japan
1958Naomi (1925)
Some Prefer Nettles (1929)
Quicksand (1928–1930)
Arrowroot (1931)
In Praise of Shadows (1933)
The Makioka Sisters (1943–48)
The Key (1956)
Childhood Years: A Memoir (1957)
Diary of a Mad Old Man (1961)[63]
Pearl S. Buck
(1892–1973)
 United States
1960Sigfrid Siwertz
(1882–1970)
 Sweden
1961The Japanese Authors' Union
1962Howard Hibbett
(1920–2019)
 United States
1963Donald Keene
(1922–2019)
 United States
1964, 1965Harry Martinson
(1904–1978)
 Sweden
Junzaburō Nishiwaki20 January 1894
Ojiya, Niigata, Japan
5 June 1982
Ojiya, Niigata, Japan
1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967Spectrum (1925)
Ambarvalia (1933)
No Traveler Returns (1947)
Modern Fables (1953)[64][65]
Naoshirō Tsuji
(1899–1979)
 Japan
1961The Japanese Authors' Union
1963Japan Academy
1968
Yasunari Kawabata11 June 1899
Osaka, Japan
16 April 1972
Zushi, Kanagawa, Japan
1961, 1963Snow Country (1948)
Thousand Cranes (1952)
The Master of Go (1954)
The Sound of the Mountain (1954)
The House of the Sleeping Beauties (1961)
The Old Capital (1962)
Dandelions (1972)[66]
Henry Olsson
(1896–1985)
 Sweden
1962The Japanese P.E.N. Club
1964, 1965Harry Martinson
(1904–1978)
 Sweden
1966Karl Ragnar Gierow
(1904–1982)
 Sweden
1967Howard Hibbett
(1920–2019)
 United States
1968Eyvind Johnson
(1900–1976)
 Sweden
Yukio Mishima14 January 1925
Tokyo, Japan
25 November 1970
Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
1963Confessions of a Mask (1949)
The Sound of Waves (1954)
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956)
The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1963)
Sun and Steel (1968)
The Sea of Fertility (1969–1971)[67]
Johannes Rahder
(1898–1988)
 Netherlands
1964, 1965, 1967Harry Martinson
(1904–1978)
 Sweden
1968Henry Olsson
(1896–1985)
 Sweden
Yasushi Inoue6 May 1907
Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
29 January 1991
Tokyo, Japan
1969The Bullfight (1949)
Hyōheki (1956)
The Roof Tile of Tempyō (1957)
Tun-huang (1959)[68]
Erich Ruprecht
(1906–1997)
 Germany
Sei Itō
(posthumously nominated)
16 January 1905
Matsumae, Hokkaido, Japan
15 November 1969
Tokyo, Japan
1970Snow-lit Road (1926)
Streets of Fiendish Ghosts (1937)
Senkichi Narumi (1948)
History of Japanese Literary Circles (1955–1969)[69]
Kōjirō Serizawa
(1897–1993)
 Japan
Tatsuzō Ishikawa2 July 1905
Yokote, Akita, Japan
31 January 1985
Tokyo, Japan
1970Sōbō (1935)
Soldiers Alive (1945)
Kinkanshoku (1966)[70]
Peace
Nagao Ariga13 November 1860
Osaka, Japan
17 May 1921
Tokyo, Japan
1909No motivation given.[71]V. H. Hilty (?)
  Switzerland
Shibusawa Eiichi16 March 1840
Fukaya, Saitama, Japan
11 November 1931
Tokyo, Japan
1926"for his involvement in almost every enterprise associated with Japanese industrial development and worked to improve the relations between the United States and Japan concerning the legal status of Japanese workers in California."[72]Tasuku Harada
(1863–1940)
 Japan
Katō Takaaki
(1860–1926)
 Japan
1927
Toyohiko Kagawa10 July 1888
Kobe, Hyōgo, Japan
23 April 1960
Tokyo, Japan
1954"for his work for reconciliation among nations."[62]Tetsu Katayama
(1887–1978)
Emily Greene Balch
(1867–1961)
 United States
19555 members of the Norwegian Storting
19567 members of the Norwegian Storting
1960No motivation given.[62]Jōtarō Kawakami
(1889–1965)
 Japan
Motojirō Sugiyama
(1885–1964)
 Japan
Tokutarō Kitamura
(1886–1968)
 Japan
Nobusuke Kishi13 November 1896
Tabuse, Yamaguchi, Japan
7 August 1987
Tokyo, Japan
1960"for his work for disarmament and banning of nuclear weapons."[73]Spessard Holland
(1892–1971)
 United States
Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki18 October 1870
Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan
12 July 1966
Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan
1963"for his high cultural achievements."[74]Hideo Kishimoti
(1903–1964)
 Japan
Shigeru Yoshida22 September 1878
Yokosuka, Kanagawa, Japan
20 October 1967
Tokyo, Japan
1965"for his efforts to prevent the Pacific War although it was in vain, and his devotion to the restoration of peace."[75]Eisaku Satō
(1901–1975)
 Japan
3 Finnish nominators
1966"for his efforts to prevent the Pacific War, and for his efforts to bring restoration of peace."[75]Kisaburo Yokota
(1896–1993)
 Japan
1967No motivation given.[75]Shigeru Kuriyama
(1886–1971)
 Japan
3 members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration
Hideki Yukawa23 January 1907
Tokyo, Japan
8 September 1981
Kyoto, Japan
1966No motivation given[39]Hideo Kaneko
(1934–2013)
 Japan
Selhataro Salsadia (?)
 Japan
Yoshio Koya1890
Japan
1974
Japan
1968"for his many outstanding services to humanity and for his pioneering efforts as a world-renowned gynecologist that the birth rate and rate of induced abortions in Japan have declined."[76]Martin Allwood
(1916–1999)
 Sweden
Kaoru Hatoyama21 November 1888
Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan
15 August 1982
Tokyo, Japan
1969"for her contribution to the reopening of diplomatic relations between Japan and the U.S.S.R., and Japan's entry into the United Nations, and for her contribution to the Yuai ("Fraternity") Movement and for her achievements as an educator."[77]members of the Japanese Government and Parliament

Notes

Physics
Shoichi Sakata reported the "Sakata model" - a model of hadrons in 1956, that inspired Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig's quark model. Moreover, Kazuhiko Nishijima and Tadao Nakano originally given the Gell-Mann–Nishijima formula in 1953.[78] However, 1969 physics prize was only awarded to Murray Gell-Mann. Afterward, Ivar Waller, the member of Nobel Committee for Physics was sorry that Sakata had not received a physics prize.[79]
Yoji Totsuka was leading the experiment that the first definitive evidence for neutrino oscillations was measured, via a high-statistics, high-precision measurement of the atmospheric neutrino flux. His Super-K group also confirmed, along with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), the solution to the solar neutrino problem. The Nobel Prize winning physicist Masatoshi Koshiba was told that if Totsuka could extend his lifespan by eighteen months, he would receive the physics prize.[80]
Chemistry
Eiji Osawa prediction of the C60 molecule at Hokkaido University in 1970.[81][82] He noticed that the structure of a corannulene molecule was a subset of an Association football shape, and he hypothesised that a full ball shape could also exist. Japanese scientific journals reported his idea, but it did not reach Europe or the Americas.[83][84] Because of this, he was not awarded the 1996 chemistry prize.
Seiji Shinkai invented the first molecular machine in 1979,[85] but he was not awarded the 2016 chemistry prize. On the contrary, Ben Feringa, one of the 2016 Nobel laureates, made a special trip to Japan in the 1980s to ask Shinkai for advice in the research.[86]
Physiology or Medicine
Kitasato Shibasaburō and Emil von Behring working together in Berlin in 1890 announced the discovery of diphtheria antitoxin serum; Von Behring was awarded the 1901 prize because of this work, but Kitasato was not. Meanwhile, Hideyo Noguchi[87] and Sahachiro Hata,[88] those who missed out on the early Nobel Prize for many times.
Katsusaburō Yamagiwa and his student Kōichi Ichikawa successfully induced squamous cell carcinoma by painting crude coal tar on the inner surface of rabbits' ears. Yamagiwa's work has become the primary basis for research of cause of cancer.[89] However, Johannes Fibiger was awarded the 1926 medicine prize because of his incorrect Spiroptera carcinoma theory, while the Yamagiwa group was snubbed by Nobel Committee. In 1966, the former committee member Folke Henschen claimed "I was strongly advocate Dr. Yamagiwa deserve the Nobel Prize, but unfortunate it did not realize".[90] In 2010, the Encyclopædia Britannica 's guide to Nobel Prizes in cancer research mentions Yamagiwa's work as a milestone without mentioning Fibiger.[91]
Umetaro Suzuki completed the first vitamin complex was isolated in 1910.[92] When the article was translated into German, the translation failed to state that it was a newly discovered nutrient, a claim made in the original Japanese article, and hence his discovery failed to gain publicity. Because of this, he was not awarded the 1929 medicine prize.
Satoshi Mizutani[93] and Howard Martin Temin jointly discovered that the Rous sarcoma virus particle contained the enzyme reverse transcriptase, and Mizutani was solely responsible for the original conception and design of the novel experiment that confirmed Temin's provirus hypothesis.[94] However, Mizutani was not awarded the 1975 medicine prize along with Temin.
As of 2015, there have been seven Japanese who have received the Lasker Award and twelve Japanese who have received the Canada Gairdner International Award, but only three Japanese who have received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
Others
A number of important Japanese native scientists were not nominated for early Nobel Prizes, such as Yasuhiko Kojima and Yasuichi Nagano (jointly discovered Interferon), Jōkichi Takamine (first isolated epinephrine),[95] Kiyoshi Shiga (discovered Shigella dysenteriae), Tomisaku Kawasaki (Kawasaki disease is named after him), and Hakaru Hashimoto. After World War II, Reiji Okazaki and his wife Tsuneko were known for describing the role of Okazaki fragments, but he died of leukemia (sequelae of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima) in 1975 at the age of 44.
Masahiko Aoki, seen as the most likely candidate to become the first Japanese to win the Nobel Prize for economics, for developing the Institutional Comparative Analysis, he taught at Kyoto University and Stanford University. He died in Palo Alto, California, in July, 2015. He was 77.

See also

Notes

References

External links