Leo Esaki

Leo Esaki
Leo Esaki in 1959
Born	(1925-03-12) March 12, 1925 (age 91) Osaka, Japan
Nationality	Japanese
Fields	Applied physics
Known for	electron tunneling, Esaki diode
Notable awards	Asahi Prize (1959) Stuart Ballantine Medal (1961) Japan Academy Prize (1965) Nobel Prize in Physics (1973) Harold Pender Award (1989) IEEE Medal of Honor (1991) Japan Prize (1998)

Reona Esaki (江崎 玲於奈 Esaki Reona, born March 12, 1925), also known as Leo Esaki, is a Japanese physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson for his discovery of the phenomenon of electron tunneling. He is known for his invention of the Esaki diode, which exploited that phenomenon. This research was done when he was with Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (now known as Sony). He has also contributed in being a pioneer of the semiconductor superlattices.

Esaki was born in Osaka, and studied physics at the University of Tokyo, where he received his B.Sc. in 1947 and his Ph.D. in 1959. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for research conducted around 1958 regarding electron tunneling in solids. He moved to the United States in 1960 and joined the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, where he became an IBM Fellow in 1967. His first paper on the semiconductor superlattice was published when he was with IBM. A 1987 comment by Esaki regarding the original paper on superlattices notes:

"The original version of the paper was rejected for publication by Physical Review on the referee's unimaginative assertion that it was 'too speculative' and involved 'no new physics.' However, this proposal was quickly accepted by the Army Research Office..."

Subsequently, Esaki served as president of the University of Tsukuba and Shibaura Institute of Technology. Since 2006 he is the President of the Yokohama College of Pharmacy. Esaki is also the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence, the Order of Culture (1974) and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1998).