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Yoichiro Nambu

Yoichiro Nambu 南部 陽一郎
Nambu in 2005
Born	(1921-01-18)18 January 1921 Tokyo, Empire of Japan (Now Japan)
Died	5 July 2015(2015-07-05) (aged 94) Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan
Citizenship	Japanese American (from 1970)
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University
Known for	Spontaneous symmetry breaking String theory Nambu–Goto action Nambu-Goldstone boson Nambu mechanics Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model
Spouse	Chieko Hida
Children	John Nambu (son)
Awards	Heineman Prize (1970) J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize (1976) Order of Culture of Japan (1978) US National Medal of Science (1982) Max Planck Medal (1985) Dirac Medal (1986) J.J. Sakurai Prize (1994) Wolf Prize in Physics (1994/1995) Franklin Medal (2005) Pomeranchuk Prize (2007) Nobel Prize in Physics (2008)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Tokyo (1942–49) Osaka City University (1949–52) Institute for Advanced Study (1952–54) University of Chicago (1954– 2015)

Modern physics
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Yoichiro Nambu (南部 陽一郎, Nanbu Yōichirō, 18 January 1921 – 5 July 2015) was a Japanese-American physicist and professor at the University of Chicago.

Known for his contributions to the field of theoretical physics, he was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2008 for the discovery in 1960 of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetryinsubatomic physics, related at first to the strong interaction's chiral symmetry and later to the electroweak interaction and Higgs mechanism.^[1]

The other half was split equally between Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa "for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature."^[1]

Early life and education[edit]

Nambu was born on 18 January 1921 in Tokyo, Empire of Japan (Now Japan). After graduating from the then-Fukui Secondary High SchoolinFukui City, he enrolled in the Imperial University of Tokyo (Now University of Tokyo) and studied physics. He received his Bachelor of Science in 1942 and Doctorate of Science in 1952.^[1] In 1949, he was appointed to associate professor at Osaka City University^[2] and promoted to professorship the next year at the age of 29.^[1]

In 1952, Nambu was invited by the Institute for Advanced StudyinPrinceton, New Jersey, United States, to study. He moved to the University of Chicago in 1954 and was promoted to professor in 1958.^[3] From 1974 to 1977, Nambu was also served as the Chairman of the Department of Physics, and then he became as an American citizen from 1970 until his death in 2015.^[4]

Career in physics[edit]

Nambu proposed the "color charge" of quantum chromodynamics,^[5] having done early work on spontaneous symmetry breakinginparticle physics,^[6] and having discovered that the dual resonance model could be explained as a quantum mechanical theory of strings.^[7][8] He was accounted as one of the founders of string theory.^[9]

After more than fifty years as a professor, he was Henry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor emeritus at the University of Chicago's Department of Physics and Enrico Fermi Institute.^[10][11]

The Nambu–Goto action in string theory is named after Nambu and Tetsuo Goto. Also, massless bosons arising in field theories with spontaneous symmetry breaking are sometimes referred to as Nambu–Goldstone bosons.^[12][13]

Death[edit]

Nambu died of heart failure at the hospital in Osaka on 5 July 2015, at the age of 94. The annoucement of his death was delayed until 17 July, just 12 days after his death.^{[14][15][16][17]} His funeral and memorial services were held among close relatives.^[15]

Nambu was survived by his wife, Chieko, and his son, John.^[15]

Recognition[edit]

In 2017, the Nambu Hall was opened on the second floor of Osaka University Graduate School of Science, J Building in memory of Emeritus Professor Nambu.^[18]

Nambu won numerous honors and awards including:

• 1970: Dannie Heineman Prize
• 1977: J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Prize^[19][20]
• 1978: Order of Culture, Japan
• 1978: Person of Cultural Merit, Japan
• 1979: Honorary Citizen of Fukui City, Japan^[21]
• 1982: National Medal of Science
• 1985: Max Planck Medal, Germany
• 1986: Dirac Prize
• 1994: Sakurai Prize
• 1994/1995: Wolf Prize in Physics
• 2003: Fukui Prefectural Award, Japan^[22]
• 2005: Benjamin Franklin Medal, Franklin Institute^[2][23]
• 2005: Oskar Klein Memorial Lecture
• 2008: Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the mechanism of spontaneous broken symmetry in subatomic physics".^[1][24][25]
• 2011: Honorary Citizen of Toyonaka City^[26]

See also[edit]

• List of Japanese Nobel laureates
• List of Nobel laureates affiliated with the University of Tokyo
• Nambu, Yoichiro (1985) Quarks, World Scientific, Singapore

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to Yoichiro Nambu.

• Oral history interview with Yoichiro Nambu on 16 July 2004, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
• Yoichiro Nambu, Department of Physics faculty profile, University of Chicago
• Profile, Scientific American Magazine
• Yoichiro Nambu, Sc.D. Biographical Information
• Nambu's most-cited scientific papers
• Yoichiro Nambu's earliest book for the scientific layman Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Yoichiro Nambu's previously unpublished material, including an original article on spontaneously broken symmetry
• "A History of Nobel Physicists from Wartime Japan" Article published in the December 1998 issue of Scientific American, co-authored by Laurie Brown and Yoichiro Nambu
• Tribute upon Prof. Nambu passing by former student Dr. Madhusree Mukerjee
• Guide to the Yoichiro Nambu Papers 1917-2009 at the University of Chicago Special Collections Research Center
• Yoichiro Nambu on Nobelprize.org