Tanakadate Aikitsu

Tanakadate Aikitsu

Tanakadate Aikitsu

Tanakadate Aikitsu ( Japanese 田中 舘 愛 橘 , own Romanization: Tanakadate Aikitu ; born September 18, 1856 in Ninohe ( Iwate Prefecture ), died May 21, 1952 ) was a Japanese geophysicist with broad scientific interests. Throughout his life he dealt with the Romanization of Japanese.

life and work

The early years

Tanakadate was born as the son of a samurai belonging to the Nambu clan in Fukuoka (now part of the city of Ninohe). In 1864 he began to study Japanese and Chinese literature. In 1873 he enrolled in Keio University and studied English. In 1879 he moved to the University of Tokyo and studied physics under Thomas C. Mendenhall (1841-1924). With him he made gravimetric measurements around Tokyo and on Mount Fuji. He studied mechanical engineering under Ewing Both. After graduating in 1882, he became an assistant professor at the university. In 1888 Tanakadate went to England where he studied electricity and magnetism at the University of Glasgow under Lord Kelvin . In 1889 he moved to the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin, from where he returned to Japan in 1890. In 1890 he was elected a member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

Earthquake research

On October 28, 1891, Nagoya was struck by the Mino Owari earthquake , in which more than 7,000 people died. Following a request from the University of Tokyo, Tanakadate conducted an investigation into the affected area and suggested that the government investigate possible further earthquakes. A corresponding state committee was then established. Tanakadate campaigned for an institute for seismology at the university, to which he devoted a lot of time after it was founded. In 1898 he took part as representative of Japan at the International Conference on Seismology in Strasbourg and was one of the three chairmen of the conference alongside Robert Darwin and Ferdinand von Richthofen .

Observation of magnetism, gravity and latitude

Tanakadate was a member of the "World Earth-Science Academic Society". He was one of the first to participate in the "Observatory of Magnetism, Gravitation and Latitude". He took part in the conference of geophysicists that was held in Stuttgart in 1998. In total, he attended eight conferences related to geophysics and got to know geophysicists from all over the world. Tanakadate was involved in the establishment of an observation station which is known today as the “Mizusawa Astro-Geodynamics Observatory”. He promoted Kimura Hisashi (1870-1943), who then became the first director of the Astro-Geodynamics Observatory. Kimura became known as the discoverer of the Z-term (or Kimura-term) of deviations from longitudes.

Adoption of the metric system

The metric system formulated by France was soon adopted by 18 nations. Tanakadate attended the Paris conference in 1906 as a representative of the Asian countries and then attended another eight to follow developments. He recommended that the Japanese government adopt the system, which was then decided by the Reichstag.

Tanakadate and the development of aviation in Japan

During the "Conference of the Metric System of Weights and Measures" in 1907, the French government demonstrated an airplane. Tanakadate was so impressed that he extended his stay until next year and studied aviation in leading European countries during that time. Back in Japan, he built a wind tunnel in his laboratory and began to study aerodynamics. In 1910 he campaigned for Tokorozawa as the area for Japan's first airfield. In 1918 he campaigned for an aviation department at Tokyo University. For all of these missions he can be called the "father of Japanese aviation".

Committee for the Promotion of Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations

Tanakadate was from 1917 to 1933 a member of the Committee for the Promotion of Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations, which also included Marie Curie and Albert Einstein and other Nobel Prize winners. Tanakadate may have discussed questions of science, technology, world peace and international brotherhood with them. He was known for his language skills. On November 23, 1938, the 40th anniversary of the discovery of radium by M. Curie, he congratulated France over the radio.

Romanization of Japanese

Tanakadate was an advocate of Romanization according to the "Japanese style", which is based on the "50-lute table". The syllables are basically given as a consonant plus vowel, as "sa - si - su - se - so", "ta - ti - tu - te - to". With this Nippon system he wanted to make Romanization independent of a romanization from a European point of view, in which the Franzen, for example, reproduced the “u” according to their pronunciation with “ou”, or the English after Hepburn “sa - shi - su - se - so ”,“ ta - chi - tsu - te - to ”write and write.

An extraordinary career

Tanakadate was not only active in Japan in a variety of ways, he visited Europe no less than 23 times from 1898 on, taking part in a total of 68 international conferences.

Tanakadate died at the age of 96 and was buried in his hometown of Ninohe. The epitaph is made in Romaji.

In 1928 Tanakadate was accepted into the Legion of Honor , in 1943 he received the Asahi Prize , in 1944 the Japanese Order of Culture , which was subsequently followed in 1951 by the low but honorary award as a person with special cultural merits . In 1989 the astronomer Tsutomu Seki named the minor planet 10300 "Tanakadate", which he discovered at the Geisei Observatory . In 2002, the Japanese Post Office issued an 80-yen stamp with his portrait on it.

literature

• S. Noma (Ed.): Tanakadate Aikitsu . In: Japan. An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Kodansha, 1993, ISBN 4-06-205938-X

Web links

Commons : Tanakadate Aikitsu  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Tanakadate Aikitsu Society
• Tanakadate Aikitsu Memorial House for Science

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 15, 2020 . 

Remarks

1. ^ Painting from 1916 by Nakamura Tsune .
2. ↑ In March 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations.

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