In1 J. Heal Mass 7imfer.
Vol. 41, No. 16, pp 2417-2418, 1998
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In memoriamProfessor Kunio Hijikata(1943-1997)

Professor Kunio Hjikata,54, an accomplishedscholar andeducator,
died of ischemic heart failure on 18 May 1997.
At the time of his (death he was Chairman of the ThermalEngineering
Division of the Japan Society of MechanicalEngineers, a Leading Organizer of the 1999 JSME/ASME
Thermal Engineering Joint Conference, Chief Editor of Thermal Science and Engineering of the Heat Transfer Society ofJapan, Chief Editor of the JSME International Journal, andserving on the board of several advisory committees for theJapanese government,
as well as the Japanese and international profession,al societies.
Professor Hijikata received his Bachelors (1966), Masters(1968) and Doctorate (1971) degrees from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
He has been associated with the Tokyo
Institute of Technology
throughout
his professional
career,as a Research Associate (1971&1978), an Associate Professor(197%1987), and a Professor (1987-1997). During the earlyyears of his tenure <at the Tokyo Institute of Technology heworked closely with Dr Yasuo Mori, now Professor-Emeritus of TIT, who was his thesis advisor and life-long mentor.
In 1982 he had the opportunity
to stay at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and worked with Professor Chang-Lin
Tien, who also has been his close associate since then, andassisted Professor Hijikata in expanding his personal spherein the international
heat transfer community.
Besides teaching at the Tokyo Irstitute of Technology,
he was invited tolecture at many universities
including
the UniversityofTokyo, HokkaidoUniversity,Kyushu University,and hewas a Springer Professor at the University of California,Berkeley, in 1993.
Professor Hijikata also left a long record of professionalsocietal service. He served in an editorial capacity of Nuclear
Engineering and Design, Experimental Heat Transfer, Journalof Flow Visualization and Image Processing, Heat Transfer
Japanese Research and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering. He organize:d two Japan-U.S.
Science Seminars on“Molecularand Microscale Transport
Phenomena”(1993,1996), as well as an International
Center for Heat and Mass
Transfer
Seminar on “Imagingin Transport
Processes”(1994). He helped to organize the Japan-U.S.
Science Seminar on “EnvironmentalProfection”(1995) the JSMEASME International
Conference
on Power Engineering(1993) and the NATO Advanced Study Institute Conference
on “Convective Heat and Mass Transfer in Porous Media”(1991). He was on the executive board of JSME and theJapan Society of Multi-Phase
Flow, and on the advisorycommitteefor the Japan Academyof Science, and theAgency of Science and Engineering. He was Vice-Chairmanof the Heat Transfer Society of Japan (1993-1994) where heplayed pivotal role!; in promoting
it to a chartered society
under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Education.
The breadth of Professor Hijikata’s contributions
to heattransfer science and engineering
is exhibited by the wide
spectrum of his research interests: two-phase flows, phasechangeheat transfer,
bubbledynamics,
heat transfer
enhancement,
electric field effects on heat transfer,
heatexchangers, thermal energy storage, plasma processes, electronic cooling, environmental
heat transfer, and microscaleheat transfer. His efforts in these areas include a variety ofexperimental,analytical and numerical methodologies.
His
approach to all his research is distinguishedby his relentless
pursuit of the basic understandingof fundamental
phenomena. He published his research results in more than 200
journal articles, books, monographs
and invited articles. His
career was distinguishedby its breadth and originality.
His keen insight is demonstrated
through his scholarship in
the area of two-phase flow and condensation.
He investigatedalmost every aspect of these phenomena
includingnoncondensablecomponents,
binarysystems,
Marangonieffects, convectivecontributions,dropwise condensation,
filmwise condensation,geometric issues, component
property aspects, to name a few. He received the JSME Best Paperaward in 1980 for his work on filmwise condensation.
Thisextensive body of pioneering research provides a foundationfor our current understanding
and approaches.
The exceptional
contributionsof Professor
Hijikata’s
research are matched by his developmentof innovative
experimental
techniques. In one example from his visualization research. Professor Hijikata pioneered the applicationof high-resolution
holographic
techniques for instantaneouspressure field on surfaces. The impact of his visualization
experiments may be recognized by their use in many industrial laboratories
and by the JSME through the Best Paperaward in 1988.
Most recently, Professor Hijikata focused on microscalethermal
phenomena.
His measurement
methodology
ofthermoelectric
voltage at point contacts provides the uniqueability to characterize
the microstructureof surfaces as wellas to study electron transport in highly confined geometries
and at cryogenic temperatures.
In addition, Professor Hijikata studied a variety of topics on high T, superconducting
microbolometers,microscale bubble and droplet nucleation,and scanning thermal microscopy.
He developed new techniques for thermal probe fabrication and used the same probe
for both thermal and electrical characterizationsof materials
with nanometer-scalespatial resolution. He launched several
students and post-doctoral
fellows into this new and exciting
field, with these efforts providing the foundation
for many
future microscale thermal researchers.
Besides his achievements
in heat transfer research Professor Hijikata has been known as a superb educator and aneffective coordinatorin the Japanese and internationalheattransfer communities.
He promoted
heat transfer sciencethrough the nationally televised educational programs aimed
at junior-highand high school students in Japan. In recentyears he has been a prime figure in the community-wide
effort to provide the general public and non-specialists
withdigested knowledge of heat transfer through the electronic
media. His book on Computer-aided Heat Transfer, first published in Japan and later by Elsevier, won wide acclaim fromstudents, industry designers and engineers. He also organizedto publish a disk version of the JSME Heat Transfer Hand-2417

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T. INOUE

book, which has been one of the best-selling publications
from JSME. His down-to-earth
manner of teaching in theuniversity classroom not only gained him enormous popularity among students, but has also proved effective in producing a troupe of highly qualified heat transfer engineers.
Professor Hijikata’s contributions
in fostering strong collaboration between Japanese and U.S. researchers have also
influenced
severalcareers.
ManyU.S. post-doctoral
researchers and graduate students visited and worked in hislaboratory,
while his own students and doctoral graduatescame to work in U.S. researchlaboratories.
Professor
Hijikata took deep concern in the professional developmentof the young researchers who came to work with him, ensuring that they had ample opportunities
for professional
growth within the Japanese technical community.
He alsotook personal concern in his visitors, arranging
funding,
housing, and the myriad of other details that face visitors toJapan, and even serving as best man at at least one wedding.
His love for the field of heat transfer, his enthusiasm, and hisenergy provided a model for those that worked with him.
As with his research, Professor Hijikata’s impact on thoseresearchers who had the opportunity
to work with him in

et al.
Japan will be felt throughout
their careers, and subsequently
in the careers of the students that those researchers will serveas mentors, Through his actions and by setting an example,
he demonstrated
the best possible benefits of Japan and U.S.
collaboration,
While his efforts to enhance the collaboration
will bemissed, his broad grin, warm handshake,and friendly
demeanor will live on in our hearts and minds for years tocome. On behalf of his friends and colleagues, we send ourdeepest sympathy
to his family. The international
community
will always remember
his significant
scholarly
achievements,
his tireless inquisitiveness,and his warm personality.
TAKAYOSHIINOUESUSUMU KOTAKEYASUO KUROSAKIWATARU NAKAYAMARICHARDBUCKIUS
ARUNAVA
MAJUMDARPER PETERSONG. P. PETERSON