JAPAN PRIZE NEWSNo. 19JANUARY 1998

THE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
FOUNDATION OF JAPAN (JSTF)
Kamiyacho Mori Building, 4th Floor
3-20, Toranomon 4-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-0001
Tel. 03 (3432) 5951 Fax. 03 (3432) 5954
URL
http: //www.mesh.ne.jp/jstf
E-Mail jslf@mxa. mesh.ne.jp

Japanese and Belgian Scientists Named as Laureatesof the 1998 (14th) Japan Prize
Category of Generation and Design of
New Materials Creating Novel Functions

Dr. Leo Esaki

Category of Biotechnology in Agricultural Sciences

Prof. Dr. Jozef S. Schell

Dr. Marc C. E. Van Montagu

The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan

Zuechtungsforschung, Germany, and Dr. Marc C. E. Van(Chairman: Jiro Kondo) announced that a Japanese scientist

Montagu (64), Scientific Director of the Genetics Department,

and two Belgian scientists have been named as laureates of theFlanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Belgium,1998 (14th) Japan Prize.

will receive the Japan Prize in this year's category ofDr. Leo Esaki (72), President of University of Tsukuba,"Biotechnology in Agricultural Sciences." They contributed toJapan, will receive the Japan Prize in this year's category ofthe establishment of the theory and method of the production"Generation and Design of New Materials Creating Novelof transgenic plants.

Functions." He contributed to the creation and realization of

These three scientists will be honored during a prize

the concept of man-made superlattice crystals which has led topresentation ceremony scheduled to be held at the National

generation of new material s with useful applications.

Theater in Tokyo on Tuesday, April 28, 1998. All will receive

Dr. Jozef S. Schell (62), Director of Department of
Genetic Principles of Plant Breeding, Max-Planck-Institut fuera certificate of merit, commemorative medal, and a cash awardof¥50 million for each category.

JAPAN PRIZE

Category of Generation and Design ofNew Materials Creating Novel Functions
Reasons for Award: For the creation and realization of
the concept of man-made superlattice
crystals which lead to generation of newmaterials with useful applications

Dr. Leo Esaki (Japan)
President, University of Tsukuba, Japan
Born on March 12, 1925 in Osaka, Japan

Category of Biotechnology inAgricultural Sciences
Reasons for Award: Establishment of the theory and method of
the production of transgenic plants

Prof. Dr. Jozef S. Schell (Belgium)
Director, Department of Genetic Principles of Plant Breeding,Max-Planck-Institute fuer Zuechtungsforschung, Germany
Born on July 20, 1935 in Antwerp, Belgium

Dr. Marc C. E. Van Montagu (Belgium)
Dr. Leo Esaki proposed in 1969 the concept ofsemiconductor "superlattice," man-made single-crystal with aperiodic one-dimensional structural modification.
He
predicted that a superlattice would exhibit peculiar properties
such as negative differential conductivity because the densityof states has a short-period modulation in the k-space. He
proposed to realize a superlattice by modulating either alloy
composition or impurity density during thin-film crystal
growth. His efforts on molecular-beam epitaxy paid off in1972 when he discovered a negative differential conductivity
in a GaAIAs superlattice. He also predicted a resonant
tunneling phenomenon between adjacent potential wells in asuperlattice, and confomed it experimentally in 1973.
Dr. Esaki's work on superlattice had a tremendous
influence on other scientists. Firstly, he suggested the conceptof modulation doping (overflow of conduction electrons orholes that originate from impurities in a wide-bandgap region
into a narrow-bandgap region). The HEMT, a high-speed field
effect transistor, was developed in 1980 based on this concept,
and is now widely used in wireless telecommunications.
Secondly, semiconductor lasers and photo-detectors withsuperlattice (or multiple-quantum-well as it is often called)
structures were invented during the 1980's and are now very
important components in optical communications. Thirdly,
GMR (Giant Magneto-Resistance) was discovered in the late1980's in a superlattice structure consisting of magnetic andnon-magnetic metals and are being pursued as sensors formagnetic recording.
Dr. Esaki's conception of superlattice has thus led to thediscovery of many interesting new properties - electrical,optical, and magnetic - and their useful applications, whichmakes him well deserve the 1998 Japan Prize in the categoryof "Generation and Design of New Materials Creating Novel
Functions." Dr. Leo Esaki was awarded a Nobel Prize inPhysics in 1973 for his discovery of tunneling insemiconductor p-n junctions. Superlattice is another great
accomplishment he has made.

Scientific Director of the Genetics Department,Flanders lnteruniversity Institute for Biotechnology, Belgium
Born on November 10, 1933 in Gent, Belgium
Drs. Schell and Van Montagu together studied themolecular mechanisms of crown-gall formation in dicotyledonous plants infected with soil bactera, Agrobacterium
tumefaciens. They presented abundant evidence to show thatthe tumor is formed due to insertion of a specific DNA region(T-DNA) of a plasmid (Ti plasmid) contained in the bacteria
into the genome of the host plant. Taking advantage of thisfact, they developed an efficient method for the transfer of aforeign gene into a plant genome.
They showed that the tumor is formed through the actionof genes located on T-DNA; the genes encode enzymes
involved in the synthesis of plant hormones and thus regulate
the growth of infected cells. Then, they clarified the molecularmechanisms of the insertion of T-DNA into plant genomes; forexample, they showed that even when the genes for plant
hormones are deleted from T-DNA the modified T-DNA canstill be inserted into plant genomes, but that 25-base-pair
repeated sequences at both ends of T-DNA play essential rolesin the insertion. In order to put the insertion system intopractical use for production of transgenic plants, they firstdeveloped the method of infecting wounded tissues andprotoplasts of dicotyledons with Agrobacterium. They thenshowed that when a foreign gene is inserted into the T-DNA
part of a Ti plasmid, the infection of a plant with
Agrobacterium carrying such a plasmid results in theintroduction of the gene into the host genome. Thereafter, they
separately conducted much work with transgenic plants andsucceeded in trial production of transgenic plants with insector herbicide-resistance.
By now the introduction of foreign genes into plantgenomes with Agrobacterium can be made not only with thedicotyledons but also monocotyledons. Recent development of
the production of various transgenic plants has thus been based
upon the work of Drs. Schell and Van Montagu. The methodof gene transfer with Agrobacterium has also been widely used
for basic studies on the functions and control mechanisms ofplant genes by many plant molecular biologists, including Drs.
Schell and Van Montagu. They have thus greatly contributed
towards enhancing agricultural production, both directly andindirectly.

JAPAN PRIZE
Members of The 1998(14th) Japan Prize
Selection Committee
NamePost

Chairman: Hirosh i lnose Director General, National Center for Science Information Systems

Selection Panel for Generation and Design of
New Materials Creating Novel Functions
Chairman:
Toru lmu ra
Acting Chairman:
Naoya Ogata
Members:
Shojiro Asai
Members:
Kenichi lga
Membe rs:
Osami Kamigaito
Members:
Kenji Suzuki
Members:
Kin-ichiro Miura

Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aichi Instituteof Technology
Professor, Department of Chemistry, Sophia University
Chairman Kondo receives
the list of recommended candidates.

Director & General Manager,Corporate Research and Development
Promotion Office, Hitachi Ltd .
Director, Professor.Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, Tokyo Instituteof Technology
Director & Ch ief Operating Officer on Board, Toyota Ce ntral Researchand Development Laboratories, Inc.
Director, Professor, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University
Professor, Director of Institute for Biomolecu lar Science, Faculty ofScience, Gakush uin University

Selection Panel for Biotechnology in Agricultural Science
Chairman: lkuo Takeuchi

Managing Trustee, Chiba-Geigy Foundation (Japan) for the Promotion of Science

Acting Chairman: Akinori Suzuki

Professor Emeritus, The University of Tokyo

Members: Tadashi Asah iProfessor, Faculty of Biotechnology, Fukui Prefectural University

Members: Akira lritaniProfessor.Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology, Kinki University

Members: Mituru Takanam i

Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University

Members: Hiroshi Harada

Professor Emeritus, University of Tsukuba

Members: Hirosh i Fujimaki

Director General, National Agricu lture Research Center

Foundation's Annual Science andTechnology Seminar Held in Fukuoka
An annual special seminar to discuss
science and technology in plain language
was held on November 28, 1997, inFukuoka, one of Japan's largest cities . Thisis the sixth year that this seminar has been
held in Fukuoka.
The seminar began in 1990 with anagreement between the Foundation and theFukuoka City Municipal Office to mark theestablishment of the Fukuoka Asian Cultural Award.
The 1997 seminar was held at theFukuoka City Women's Center, Amicas,

Dr. lsao Arita

and was attended by about 100 people.
Lectures were delivered by the 1988 (4th)Japan Prize Laureate , Dr. lsao Arita,
Chairman of the Agency for Cooperation inInternational Health ; and by Dr. Kenjilsshiki, Associate Director of the
Postharvest Technology Division of theNational Food Research Institute. Dr.
Arita's lecture was entitled, "How can we
protect our children from infection?" Dr.
lsshiki spoke on the topic of "Food safety
maintenance - How can we secure thesafety of our food?"JAPAN PRIZE
Categories Selected for the 1999 (15th) Japan Prize
Members of The 1999(15th) Japan Prize
Fields Selection Committee

The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan has
announced the two categories for the 1999 (15th) Japan Prize.
The categories are "Information Technologies" and"Molecular Recognition and Dynamics in Bioscience."

Concepts of the Categories

Name

Post

Director General, National Center for Science
Chairman: Hiroshi lnose Information Systems,Category I (e.g. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Engineering)
General Secretary:
Toshio SalaMembers:Hideo Aiso
Members:
Nobuaki KumagaiMembers:
Yasuharu SuematsuMembers:
Yasuh iko Yasuda

Information Technologies
In accordance with the progress of digitalization, information
technolog ies are increasingly playing an important role in modern society.
The prize for 1999 will be awarded for outstanding ach ievements inencoding and encryption technologies, reliability and security technologies,
and related digital information technologies which are bases of efficient andsecure information systems.

Molecular Recognition and Dynamics in Bioscience
Recent progress of bioscience owes much to understanding
mechan isms of intermolecu lar interaction. In addition, techno logica ldevelopments to visualize (or recognize) molecular movements andinteractions in living cells have also contributed to obtain deeper insights
into the biological function of each molecule.
The Japan Prize for 1999 will be awarded for outstandingachievements in elucidation of the basic principle of molecular recognition
as well as technological developments to visualize or recognize dynamics
of biological molecules.

Chairperson and Professor,Graduate School ofMedia and Governance, Keio University
Professor Emeritus, Osaka University
President, Kochi University of Technology
Professor, School of Science and Engineering,
Waseda University

Category II (e.g. Biology, Agriculture and Medicine)

Each year, The Science and Technology Foundationof Japan sends two Japanese students to the StockholmInternational Youth Science Seminar (SIYSS), sponsoredby the Swedish Federation of Young Scientists andsupported by the Nobel Foundation . The participants
attend various Nobel events including the Award
Ceremony. This year, it sent Mr. Shohei Chida of theUniversity of Tokyo and Miss Yuko Tabuchi of Sophia
University to the SIYSS . Their report follows:"We participated in the SIYSS which was held
during the Nobel Week at the beginning of December

Vice President, Toyota Technological Institute

General Secretary:
Haruo Sugano
Members:
Fumimaro Takaku
Members:
Kumao Toyoshima
Members:
Kiyoshi Hama
Members:
Tasuku Honjo

Director Emeritus, Cancer Institute, JapaneseFoundation for Cancer ResearchPresident, Jichi Medical School
President, Osaka Medical Center for.Cancer andCardiovascular Diseases
President, Okazaki National Research Institute
Dean and Professor, Kyoto University Faculty ofMedicine

1997. There were 25 participants selected from 16
different countries. In the first part of the program wevisited several laboratories and we made researchpresentations in the fields of science, economics andpolitics. Afterward, the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony
was held with great dignity - it seemed like a dreamcome true. On the following day there was a TV debate
among the Nobel laureates, an active discussion about
the future of the Nobel Prize, and others topics. We had
a special opportunity to put questions to the laureates asrepresentatives of all the participants.
"We were surprised to find that interest in Japaneseculture is very high among people offoreign countries. I (Miss Tabuchi) wore akimono to the ceremony, and many people
were delighted to see it. We learned fromour stay in Stockholm that we can build
better relationships by understanding andhelping each other.
"It was a special experience and we aremost grateful to the Foundation for giving
us this opportunity."Miss Tabuchi (front row, sixth from left)
and Mr. Chida (back row, th ird from left)