Leo Esaki

Leo Esaki (Japanese江 崎 玲 于 奈, Esaki Reona, born March 12, 1925 in Osaka Prefecture ) is a Japanese physicist. He became famous for the invention of the Esaki diode.

Esaki studied physics at the University of Tokyo in 1947 and made his Bachelor of Science, 1959, he reached the academic degree of doctor and was awarded the Asahi Prize. From 1956 he was a scientist at Sony, and from 1960 to 1992 with IBM at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center. 1992 to 1998 he was president of the University of Tsukuba. 2000 to 2005 he was president of the Shibaura Institute of Technology and from 2006 of the Yokohama College of Pharmacy.

Leo Esaki was awarded in 1973 with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson the Nobel Prize in Physics for experimental discoveries that were related to the tunneling phenomenon in semi - or superconductors. In 1974 he was honored as Bunka Kōrōsha, as a person with special cultural merits. In 1998 he received the Japan Prize.

Since 1976 he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1985 he received the International Prize of New Materials of the American Physical Society.