Suekichi Kinoshita (Japanese: 木下季吉, ''Kinoshita Suekichi'', 14 January 1877 – 28 November 1934) was a Japanese experimental physicist and pioneer in

radioactivity Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

. His main contribution include the first observation of

alpha particles Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay but may also be produce ...

using nuclear emulsion photography.

Education and career

Kinoshita was the second son in an intellectual family, where his father Sukeyuki Kinoshita was a government official. His younger brother Kumao Kinoshita (1881–1947) was a marine biologist. Kinoshita studied physics at the

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

(now University of Tokyo), graduating in 1902. He left Japan and first worked as an intern under

Woldemar Voigt Woldemar Voigt (; 2 September 1850 – 13 December 1919) was a German mathematician and physicist. Biography Voigt was born in Leipzig, and died in Göttingen. He was a student of Franz Ernst Neumann. Voigt taught at the Georg August Universi ...

at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

. He then visited

Ernest Rutherford Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson (30 August 1871 – 19 October 1937) was a New Zealand physicist who was a pioneering researcher in both Atomic physics, atomic and nuclear physics. He has been described as "the father of nu ...

's group at the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. A ...

(now University of Manchester) in the UK, where he stayed from 1907 to 1909. His groundbreaking research on alpha particles, based on the work done at Manchester, was first presented at the meeting of the

British Science Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

in 1909, and was published shortly afterward in 1910. Upon returning to Japan, he taught physics at the

from 1914 to 1933. Kinoshita was awarded the

Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy The is a prestigious honor conferred to two of the recipients of the Japan Academy Prize (academics), Japan Academy Prize. Overviews It is awarded in two categories: humanities and natural sciences. The Emperor of Japan, Emperor and Empress ...

in 1923 for his work on radioactive particles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kinoshita, Suekichi 1877 births 1935 deaths University of Tokyo alumni People associated with the Victoria University of Manchester Japanese physicists Experimental physicists Academic staff of the University of Tokyo Particle physicists

Education and career

Further reading

References