was a Japanese engineer and inventor. He is known for his electronic inventions since the 1950s, including the PIN diode,

static induction transistor The static induction transistor (SIT) is a type of field-effect transistor (FET) capable of high-speed and high-power operation, with low distortion and low noise. It is a vertical structure device with short multichannel. The device was origina ...

, static induction thyristor, SIT/SITh. His inventions contributed to the development of

internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

technology and the

Information Age The Information Age is a historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology ...

. He was a professor at Sophia University.

Biography

Nishizawa was born in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

, Japan, on September 12, 1926. He earned a B.S. in 1948, and a Doctor of Engineering degree in 1960, from

Tohoku University is a public research university in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. It is colloquially referred to as or . Established in 1907 as the third of the Imperial Universities, after the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, it initially focused on sc ...

. In 1953, he joined the Research Institute of Electrical Communication at Tohoku University. He became a professor there and was appointed director to two research institutes. From 1990 to 1996, Nishizawa served as the President of Tohoku University. He became the president of Iwate Prefectural University in 1998.

Research

In 1950, the static induction transistor was invented by Jun-ichi Nishizawa and Y. Watanabe. The PIN photodiode was also invented by Nishizawa and his colleagues in 1950. In 1952, he invented the

avalanche photodiode An avalanche photodiode (APD) is a highly sensitive type of photodiode, which in general are semiconductor diodes that convert light into electricity via the photovoltaic effect. APDs use materials and a structure optimised for operating with high ...

.Jun-ichi Nishizawa: Engineer, Sophia University Special Professor
(interview), ''Japan Quality Review'', 2011. He then invented a solid-state maser in 1955. This was followed by his proposal for a semiconductor optical maser in 1957, a year before Schawlow and Townes's first paper on optical masers. While working at

, he proposed

fiber-optic communication Fiber-optic communication is a form of optical communication for transmitting information from one place to another by sending pulses of infrared or visible light through an optical fiber. The light is a form of carrier wave that is modul ...

, the use of

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

s for

optical communication Optical communication, also known as optical telecommunication, is communication at a distance using light to carry information. It can be performed visually or by using electronic devices. The earliest basic forms of optical communication date ...

, in 1963. Nishizawa invented other technologies in the 1960s that contributed to the development of optical fiber communications, such as the graded-index optical fiber as a channel for transmitting light from semiconductor lasers. He patented the graded-index optical fiber in 1964.The Third Industrial Revolution Occurred in Sendai
Soh-VEHE International Patent Office, Japan Patent Attorneys Association In 1971, he invented the static induction thyristor.

Recognition

Nishizawa was a Life Fellow of the

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

. He is a Fellow of several other institutions, including the Physical Society, the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

, and the

Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...

. Nishizawa was decorated with Order of Culture by the emperor of Japan in 1989. He also received the Japan Academy Prize (1974), IEEE Jack A. Morton Award (1983), the Honda Prize (1986), and the Laudise Prize of the International Organization for Crystal Growth (1989). IEEE conferred the Edison Medal on him in 2000, and introduced the IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal in 2002. He has more than a thousand patents registered under his name.

References

External links

Jun-ichi Nishizawa – Biographical article on IEEE Global History Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nishizawa, Jun-Ichi 1926 births 2018 deaths People from Sendai Japanese physicists 20th-century Japanese inventors Fellows of the IEEE IEEE Edison Medal recipients Tohoku University alumni Academic staff of Tohoku University Academic staff of Sophia University Recipients of the Order of Culture Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 1st class Foreign members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Scientists from Sendai