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Home > Policy > White Paper, Notice, Announcement > White Paper > WHITE PAPER ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY2003 > Part1 1.2 1.2.1 1.2.1.3

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Part1 Human Resources in Science and Technology Required of Japan in the Future
1.2 Trends in Human Resources in Science and Technology in Japan and Other Nations
1.2.1 Human Resourcesin Scienceand Technology Trendsin Japan and Other Nations
1.2.1.3 World-class Human Resources in Scienceand Technology


  In terms of the quality of human resources in science and technology,the average quality of Japanese engineers and technicians in particular is high,which has been given as the factor that supports Japanese competitive power.When it comes,however,to the quality of researchers,who are essential to create new knowledge,the United States overwhelms other countries in terms of the turn out of world-class research personnel who ride supreme among HRST,indicating the concentration of exceptional world-class personnel in the United States.Japan,on the other hand,has the fewest number of recipients of international scientific awards among the major countries,although it is second to the United States in the number of researchers in the top20article citation index (Table1-2-10) .

Table1-2-10The estimated number of world-class research personnel in major countries

COLUMN

Receipt of the Nobel Prize by Japanese Citizens

  The2002Nobel Prize award ceremony was held on December10,2002at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Sweden.Masatoshi Koshiba,Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo,was awarded the prize in physics,and Koichi Tanaka,a Fellow in Shimadzu Corporation,was awarded the prize in chemistry.

  The2002awards represent the first Japanese receipt of the award in physics in29years since Reona Esaki,President of Shibaura Institute of Technology,and the third year running for receipt of the award in chemistry following that of Hideki Shirakawa,Professor Emeritus at the University of Tsukuba,two years ago and that of Ryoji Noyori,Professor at Nagoya University,last year.Moreover,receipt in the same year by two Japanese was a new feat,bringing the total number of Japanese Laureates to twelve.

  Professor Koshiba was awarded the prize because of his success in detecting neutrinos from a distant supernova explosion using a gigantic detector known as Kamiokande*,which offered corroboration to theories about the mechanism of gravitational collapse and the evolution of stars,and opened up a new field of research,"neutrino-astronomy,"which has won high acclaim.

*Kamiokande

  Kamiokande(Kamioka Nucleon Decay Experiment)is an observatory located1,000meters underground in a mineshaft of a Kamioka mining company in Kamiokacho,Yoshiki Country,Gifu Prefecture.The observatory was active from1983until1996.The detector worked by capturing the reaction of neutrinos as they passed through a tank containing3,000tons of pure water.The original aim was to investigate the phenomenon of proton(in the nucleus of hydrogen atoms)decay;the sensitivity of the detector was upgraded in1996,making it possible to observe cosmic neutrinos.The successor Super Kamiokande began observations in1996,and in1998neutrinos were discovered to have mass.In addition,the Tohoku University neutrino observatory KamLAND has been established on the Kamiokande site.

  Mr.Tanaka was awarded the prize because he devised,with the development of mass spectroscopes,a new ionization method known as soft laser desorption(SLD),which won high acclaim for opening up a new measurement method that made possible analysis of biological macromolecules such as pro-teins,which had thus far been impossible.

  In this technology,proteins are mixed with a matrix(a mix-ture of multiple chemical substances)to form a crystalline state that is then struck with a laser pulse.The distinctive feature of the technology is that with the help of the matrix,the proteins can be ionized without destroying their molecular structure.Moreover,using this technology,data on the structure of ions can be obtained by giving the generated ions a specified a-mount of energy and accelerating them over a specified distance in a vacuum chamber,and then measuring the time of flight(TOF).

  Both awards demonstrate to the world the high standard of research of Japanese researchers,and are a source of great pride and encouragement throughout Japan,to say nothing of Japanese researchers themselves.


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