Nagata Takeshi

Nagata Takeshi , also Takesi Nagata , ( Japanese 永田 武 ; born June 24, 1913 in Aichi Prefecture ; † June 3, 1991 ) was a Japanese geophysicist who was particularly concerned with geomagnetism .

Life

Nagata studied physics at the University of Tokyo with the degree in 1936 and then researched in the Earthquake Research Institute ( 地震 研究所 , Jishin Kenkyūjo , English Earthquake Research Institute ) of the University of Tokyo. In 1941 he became assistant professor and in 1952 professor of geophysics in Tokyo, which he remained until 1974. From 1973 to 1984 he was director of the Japanese National Polar Research Institute.

From 1962 to 1977 he was also adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh .

In his dissertation published in 1943, he studied thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) of volcanic rocks (as independently Émile Thellier (1904–1987) in France). At the beginning of the 1950s, he and his students Akimoto Shun'ichi and Ueda Seiya discovered the phenomenon of magnetic field reversal in rock magnetism, and there was a long debate about the nature of this phenomenon until it was finally attributed to the reversal of the earth's magnetic field (including Allan V. Cox ). Nagata also studied various other aspects of rock magnetism, summarized in his monograph Rock Magnetism . He researched the earth's magnetic field, the aurora, magnetic storms, undertook rocket and satellite experiments and promoted polar research in Japan. This made him a very well-known scientist in Japan. 1956 to 1958 he was in Antarctica for three years in a row. After the discovery of meteorites in Antarctica in 1969 by Japanese scientists, he arranged for a systematic search for meteorites in Antarctica.

From 1967 to 1971 he was President of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) and from 1972 to 1976 he was Vice President of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

In 1951 he received the Japan Academy Prize, in 1966 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina , and in 1969 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences . In 1974 he received the Order of Culture . In 1983 he became a member of the Japanese Academy of Sciences , in 1987 he received the gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society . He is the namesake for Mount Nagata in Antarctica.

Fonts

• The natural permanent magnetism of volcanic rocks and its relation to geomagnetic phenomena, Bulletin Earthquake Research Institute, Volume 1, 1943, pp. 1-196
• with Syun-iti Akimoto, Seiya Uyeda: Reverse thermo-remanent magnetism, Proc. Japan Academy, Vol. 27, 1951, pp. 643-645
• Rock Magnetism, Tokyo: Maruzen 1953, 1961

Article in Handbuch der Physik :

• with Shuzo Sakuma: Physical Volcanology, Volume 48, 1957
• Magnetic properties of rocks and minerals, Vol. 49-1, 1966
• with N. Fukushima: Morphology of Magnetic Disturbance, Vol. 49-3, 1971

literature

• Masaro Konu: Article Takesi Nagata in David Gubbins et al. a. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, Springer Verlag 2007, p. 696

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Nagata is the family name, Takeshi the first name.