The Winners of the Okawa Prize
Citation
For pioneering and outstanding achievements in the research anddevelopment of computer systems and in the advancement of the computerindustry as well as distinguished contributions to the development ofinterdisciplinary ﬁelds based on informatics in higher education.

Dr. Hideo Aiso

Positions and Organizations :Professor Emeritus, Keio University
Director and Past President, Tokyo University of Technology
Degree : Doctor of Engineering (Keio Univ., 1968)
Date of Birth : March 3, 1932
Brief Biography :1955 Graduated from the Department of Electrical Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering at Keio University
1957 Completed Master s program at the Graduate School ofEngineering, Keio University, with a major in ElectricalEngineering
1957 Research Assistant, School of Engineering, Osaka University
1957 Technical Oﬃcial, Electronics Department, Industrial
Technology Oﬃce, Electrotechnical Laboratory, Ministry ofInternational Trade and Industry
1960 Research Assistant, Digital Computer Laboratory,
University of Illinois
1971 Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty ofEngineering, Keio University
1982 Visiting Professor, Downing College and Computer
Laboratory, University of Cambridge
1990 Dean and Professor, Faculty of Environment andInformation Studies, Keio University
1994 Chairman and Professor, Graduate School of Media andGovernance, Keio University
1999 Dean and Professor, School of Media Science, Tokyo
University of Technology
1999 Professor Emeritus, Keio University
1999 President, Tokyo University of Technology
2008 Director, Tokyo University of Technology
2009 Professor Emeritus, Tokyo University of Technology
Main Awards and Honors:
1968 Minister of International Trade and Industry Award
1977 U.S. AFIPS National Computer Conference s Best Paper Award
1979 Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication
Engineers Best Paper Award
1980 Information Processing Society of Japan Best Paper Award
1980 Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication
Engineers Best Paper Award
1987 Minister of International Trade and Industry Individual Award
1995 Information Processing Society of Japan Achievement Award
1995 Medal with Purple Ribbon
2006 The Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with NeckRibbon
2008 C&C Prize2009 Takayanagi Memorial Award
Main Achievements :In the latter half of the 1950s, Dr. Hideo Aiso engaged in researchand development on the ETL Mark IV, Mark V and Mark VI
transistor-based computers at the Electronics Department of theElectrotechnical Laboratory (now part of the National Institute ofAdvanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)). In particular,
where the development of the Mark IV was concerned, there wasa need to devise a basic circuit that would work with as few
transistors as possible due to the high cost of transistors, around5,000 yen each at the time, (a university graduate s starting salary
was around 13,000 yen at the time), but Dr. Aiso devised a dynamic
logic circuit working with a single transistor by taking advantage ofpulse-wave techniques. Furthermore, he demonstrated the circuits
operating stability and usefulness, including installing a high-speed
magnetic-drum memory and an arithmetic unit using a decimalﬁxed-point value method in line with EDSAC, and the Mark IV wasable to begin operating in the fall of 1957.
Additionally, with the Mark V and Mark VI, Dr. Aiso engaged
in making computers with enhanced functionality, speed, sizeand practical applications. Through the ElectrotechnicalLaboratory, he led a group of companies that aimed to movecomputers to domestic production, and made major
contributions to developing and commercializing
domestically-produced transistor-based computers.
In 1971, Dr. Aiso took up a new post as a professor at theDepartment of Electrical Engineering in the Faculty of Engineering
at Keio University, and following that also, he consistently worked
on researching extensive computer architecture relating to parallel
processing, distributed processing, adaptive processing, associativeprocessing, specially designed functional processing and more. He
formed an extremely advanced research organization within Japanand achieved outstanding results that included receiving four BestPaper Awards from the Institute of Electronics, Information andCommunication Engineers and other organizations, beginning withthe U.S. National Computer Conference s Best Paper Award.
Furthermore, as a result of his preeminent leadership andupstanding character, Dr. Aiso also fostered a large number ofresearchers and engineers who are active on the front lines of thisﬁeld today. Where university professors are concerned, for example,
Dr. Aiso helped to foster 10 professors who are active at Keio
University, 4 at the University of Tokyo, 18 at 15 other universities
and 9 at 7 universities overseas, as well as more than 20 individuals
who are consultants or who have served as board members atcompanies.
Moreover, during this time, Dr. Aiso also made proactive
contributions as the chair of committees for promoting national
projects such as ﬁfth-generation computers, supercomputers andinteroperable technologies for information processing. He played
an active role as an opinion leader in the ﬁeld of computerarchitecture throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Dr. Aiso performed a leading role in founding the Faculty ofEnvironment and Information Studies, which viewed various
ﬁelds of learning transversely with information technology as
the base, at Keio University in 1990, and in establishing theGraduate School of Media and Governance in 1994, and heserved as the Faculty s ﬁrst dean and the Graduate School sﬁrst chair. He subsequently moved to Tokyo University ofTechnology in 1999, where he participated in setting up
Japan s ﬁrst School of Media Science and served as the ﬁrst
dean of the School. In June of the same year he was appointed
as President of the university. While at Tokyo University ofTechnology Dr. Aiso continued to actively engage inreorganizing the School of Engineering and the Graduate
School, and he remains involved in running the university now
as Director. As a result of these eﬀorts, Dr. Aiso has createda legacy of important knowledge and suggestions relating to
new approaches to university education and research and thedevelopment of the information environment based on
information science and media science, academic spheresthat extend across various ﬁelds of learning.
As a result of this outstanding track record in education andresearch in the ﬁeld of information engineering over a period ofmany years, Dr. Aiso has been presented with numerous awards,including a Medal with Purple Ribbon and The Order of the Sacred
Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, as well as an Achievement
Award from the Information Processing Society of Japan.
In this way, Dr. Hideo Aiso has engaged in the research anddevelopment of computer systems as a pioneer from the dawn of
the computer era and has made a massive contribution to theadvancement of Japan s computer-related industries. Furthermore,
he has contributed to cultivating interdisciplinary ﬁelds based on
information science and to enhancing the education and research
environment, as well as fostering a large number of distinguishedpersonnel. The Okawa Prize is hereby presented to Dr. Aiso incommendation of those achievements.

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