Nobel Prize
SUZUKI AkiraNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry 2010
Emeritus Professor Akira Suzuki, who worked for more than 40 years at Hokkaido University after graduating, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2010. The prize was given for his work on “palladium-catalyzed cross couplings in organic synthesis,” which produce a more stable, nontoxic reaction compared with other reactions, an innovation that drastically changed the methodology of organic synthetic chemistry and serves as a foundation for manufacturing. It also has made a significant contribution to the development of products that are familiar in our daily lives, such as pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides, liquid crystals, and organic light-emitting diodes. The achievement perfectly embodies our philosophy of “practical learning.”
Professor Emeritus and Hokkaido University Professor
SUZUKI Akira
Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry 2010
Benjamin LISTNobel Prize Winner in Chemistry 2021
Specially Appointed Professor Benjamin List has worked as a Principal Investigator at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery since the institution’s establishment in 2018. In 2021, he jointly received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2021 with Dr. David W. C. MacMillan of Princeton University for “the development of asymmetric organocatalysis,” which has emerged as the third major type of catalysis, in addition to metal- and enzyme-based catalysis. Organic catalysts are carbon-based instead of metal-based, making them comparatively environmentally friendly and cheap. Molecules can often have two versions that are mirror images of each other. Asymmetric organocatalysts have become widely adopted because of their ability to control a reaction so that only one of these mirror images is produced, which is especially important when making pharmaceuticals.
Specially Appointed Professor and Hokkaido University Professor
Director of the Max Planck Institut für Kohlenforschung
Benjamin LIST
Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry 2021
Order of Culture
The prestigious Order of Culture Prize was established in 1937. This prize is awarded to men and women for contributions to Japanese art, literature, or culture. Prizes are conferred by the Emperor of Japan in person on Culture Day on November 3rd each year.
| Name | Year | Title | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| MIYABE Kingo | 1946 | Professor Emeritus | Botanical study |
| SUZUKI Akira | 2010 | Professor Emeritus | Developing a chemical tool known as palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings for organic boron compounds |
Persons of Cultural Merit
The system for Persons of Cultural Merit was established in 1951 by the Law on Pensions for the Persons of Cultural Merit. Its purpose is to honor persons of cultural merit by providing a special government-sponsored pension.
| Name | Year | Title | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| MATSUMURA Shonen | 1954 | Professor Emeritus | Entomological study |
| ITO Seiya | 1959 | Professor Emeritus | Phytopathological study of crop diseases and fungi |
| SAKAMURA Tetsu | 1976 | Professor Emeritus | Plant-cell study of wheat chromosome and plant- physiological study of mold |
| TAKAHASHI Man-emon | 1995 | Professor Emeritus | Genetic study of rice |
| SUZUKI Akira | 2010 | Professor Emeritus | Developing a chemical tool known as palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings for organic boron compounds. |
| YAMAGISHI Toshio | 2013 | Professor Emeritus | Research on social dilemmas and trust |
| KIDA Hiroshi | 2017 | Professor Emeritus | Elucidation of the mechanism causing new influenza strains |
| UI Michio | 2018 | Professor Emeritus | Research and function elucidation of GTP-binding protein |
The Japan Academy Prize
| Name | Year | Title | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| KON Yutaka | 1934 | Professor of Medicine(Imperial Academy Prize) | Research on silver reaction of cells |
| KUNUGI Kinjiro | 1939 | Professor of Science(Imperial Academy Prize) | Research on the theory of abstract spaces |
| HORIUCHI Juro | 1940 | Professor of Science(Imperial Academy Prize) | Theoretical and experimental research on chemical kinetics |
| NAKAYA Ukichiro | 1941 | Professor of Science(Imperial Academy Prize) | Physical investigations of snow |
| KAYA Seiji | 1942 | Professor of Science(Imperial Academy Prize) | Magnetic studies of ferromagnetic crystals |
| SUZUKI Jun | 1949 | Professor of Science | Studies on ultrabasic rocks and the ore-deposits accompanying them |
| MAKINO Sajiro | 1958 | Professor of Science | Studies on chromosomes in animals |
| FUKUSHI Teikichi | 1958 | Professor of Agriculture | Studies on insect transmission of plant virus diseases |
| NAGAO Seijin | 1965 | Professor of Agriculture Studies | Studies on twelve linkage groups in rice |
| TAKAHASHI Manemon | 1965 | Assistant Professor of Agriculture | Studies on twelve linkage groups in rice |
| FUJITA Kotatsu | 1971 | Professor of Letters | Study of early ‘Pure Land Buddhism’ |
| ISHIZUKA Yoshiaki | 1975 | Professor Emeritus | Nutrio-physiological studies on the rice plant, and application to rice production (joint research) |
| TANAKA Akira | 1975 | Professor of Agriculture | Nutrio-physiological studies on the rice plant, and application to rice production (joint research) |
| YOKOYAMA Izumi | 1981 | Professor of Science | Structure of volcanoes as disclosed by gravity anomaly distribution |
| BAN Yoshio | 1984 | Professor of Pharmacology | Studies of the synthesis of the indole group of alkaloids |
| SHIKATA Eishiro | 1986 | Professor of Agriculture | Studies on plant viruses and viroids |
| KINOSHITA Toshiro | 1993 | Professor of Agriculture | Genetical studies on the interaction between cytoplasmic and nuclear genomes, and the application of these studies to crop breeding |
| OHTSUKA Eiko | 1996 | Professor of Pharmacology | Synthesis and functional studies on nucleic acids: synthetic c-Ha-ras gene and related subjects (joint research) |
| MATSUNO Taro | 1997 | Professor of Environmental Earth Science | Elucidation of atmospheric dynamics in the stratosphere and mesosphere |
| SUZUKI Akira | 2004 | Professor Emeritus | Studies on the development of new synthetic reactions using palladium catalysts (joint research) |
| KIDA Hiroshi | 2005 | Professor of Veterinary Medicine | Studies on the control of influenza: mechanism of emergence of pandemic influenza virus strains in poultry, domestic animals and humans, and molecular basis of the neutralization of viral infectivity with antibodies |
| TAGUCHI Masaki | 2021 | Professor Emeritus | Studies on royal jurisdiction and regional settlement disputes in later medieval Germany |
| SHIRATO Hiroki | 2022 | Professor of Faculty of Medicine | Biomedical and Engineering Research about Real-time Tumor Tracking Radiotherapy/Particle Beam Therapy against Cancer |