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Benjamin Franklin Medal awarded to Dr. Sumio Iijima, Director of the Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials, AIST
February, 2002

Career summary for Dr. Sumio Iijima

  • Name: Sumio Iijima
  • Date of birth: 2 May 1939

Current positions:

  • Senior Research Fellow, NEC Laboratories, NEC Corporation
  • Professor of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Meijo University
  • Research Director, Nanotubulites Project, International Cooperative Research Project (ICORP), Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST)
  • Director, Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

Office addresses:

  • NEC: 34, Miyukigaoka, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8501, Japan
  • Meijo University: 1-150 Shiogamaguchi, Tenpaku, Nagoya, Aichi 468-8502, Japan
  • AIST: AIST Tsukuba Central 5, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8565, Japan

Education:

  • 1963: B.Eng., University of Electro-communications, Tokyo.
  • 1965: M.S. in Physics, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University
  • 1968: Ph.D. in Physics, Faculty of Science, Tohoku University

Professional Record:

  • 1968–1970: Research Associate, Research Institute for Scientific Measurements, Tohoku University (experiments on electron interference microscopy)
  • 1970–1982: Research Associate, Arizona State University, USA (development of high-resolution electron microscope and crystalline materials research)
  • (1979): Visiting senior scientist, University of Cambridge (observational electron microscopy studies on non-crystalline carbon materials)
  • 1982–1987: Group Leader, Hayashi Ultra-Fine Particle Project, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology Program, Research Development Corporation of Japan (now JST) (generation of ultra-fine particles, research on their physical properties and electron microscopy)
  • 1987–present: Senior Research Fellow, NEC Laboratories, NEC Corporation (discovered carbon nanotubes in 1991)
  • 1998–present: Research Director, Nanotubulites Project, ICORP Project, JST
  • 1999–present: Professor of Meijo University
  • 2001–present: Director, Research Center for Advanced Carbon Materials, AIST

Specialties:

  • Solid-state physics, materials science, electron microscopy, crystallography

Awards and Fellowships:

  • 1976: Bertram Eugene Warren Diffraction Physics Award (American Crystallography Society)
  • 1980: Seto Award (Japanese Society of Electron Microscopy)
  • 1985: Crystallographic Society of Japan Award
  • 1985: Nishina Memorial Award
  • 1986: Agency of Science and Technology Ministerial Award
  • 1986: Best Paper Award, Japan Society for Applied Physics
  • 1989: Ban Memorial Award
  • 1996: Asahi Award
  • 1998: Tsukuba Prize
  • 2001: American Physical Society Fellow
  • 2001: Ishikawa Carbon Award
  • 2001: Agilent Europhysics Prize
  • 2002: McGroddy Prize for New Materials (American Physical Society)

Society memberships:

  • Physical Society of Japan, Japan Society for Applied Physics, Japanese Electron Microscopy Society, American Physical Society, Materials Research Society (USA), Microscope Society of America

Miscellaneous:

  • President of the Japanese Electron Microscopy Society (2002–2003)
  • Academic Council Advisory Panel member (1999–2002)
  • Member of the Kaya Conferences on Solid State Physics established by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (1999–2002)
  • Nanostructured Materials, Associate Editor
  • Ultramicroscopy, Advisory Editorial Board
  • Journal of Electron Microscopy, Advisory Board

Publications:

  • 190 refereed scientific papers