Prof T. Nishi was awarded The International Rubber Conference
Organization (IRCO) Medal

The Medal was presented by The International Rubber Conference
Organization (IRCO) and in the medal “To Toshio Nishi in recognition of
exceptional achievements and contributions to the knowledge andunderstanding of rubber science and technology throughout the world” isinscribed. The medal was given by Dr. Thomas Barth, Chairman of Deutsche
Kautschuk-Gesellschaft after the introduction by Prof. Jack W. M.
Noordermeer of The University of Twente, Netherland at the opening
ceremony of IRC2009Nurnberg, Germany on June 29 at Hall Paris,
International Congress Center, Nürnberg, Germany.

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IRCO Medal is given to one person a year or less and Prof. Nishi is the second Japanese ororientals to receive the medal. Prof. Noboru Yamazaki, Emeritus Professor of Tokyo Institute ofTechnology got the Medal in 1998 at IRC1998Paris. The candidate for the medal must berecommended by the other country and this time Prof. Nishi was recommended by Netherland.
In the introduction by Prof. Noordermeer it was explained that Prof. Nishi has published more than
200 original papers, more than 100 review articles, more than 80 books (Mostly co-authored), andpresented more than 90 invited lectures at international conferences concerning structure andproperties of polymer alloys, blends, composites, elastomer systems, and polymer nanotechnology.
He has been the member of IRC Committee since IRC1993, Orland, USA representing Japan. He
was the Program Chairman of IRC1995 Kobe, Japan and Organizer of IRC2005 Yokohama,Japan. Both IRCs were very successful with many participants and large-scale exhibitions. He
mentioned that the IRC1995 was remarkable since it was only after a half year after the major
earthquake in Kobe and Prof. Nishi managed the IRC1995 Kobe to a success as the President of
The Society of Rubber Industry, Japan and Program Chairman.
He was the President of The Society of Rubber Industry, Japan from 1995 to 1997, Vice Presidentof The Society of Polymer Science, Japan from 2000 to 2002, Vice President of The Society ofRheology, Japan from 2002 to 2004, Convenor of ISO/TC45/SC4/WG9 Elastomeric Isolators from2000 which is very important to protect buildings and bridges from earthquakes. Recently, he isnominated as an associate member of the Science Council, Japan.
The memorial lecture was presented by Prof. Nishi on July 1 at Hall Paris with more than 300
attendants with standing audience. The title of the lecture was "From Nano-to Mega-technology ofElastomers" co-authored with Associate Professor Ken Nakajima of WPI-AIMR and Prof. Hiroshi
Jinnai of Adjunct Professor of WPI-AIMR. The lecture was first on polymer nanotechnology
developed by his group like three dimensional electron microscope (3D-TEM) and nanomechanical mapping system applied to elastomeric materials. Then, he talked about seismicelastomeric isolators with many examples and basic studies related to polymer
nanotechnology. The lecture was highly appreciated and he was asked to give at least threeinvited lectures at another international conferences in Germany, India, and Indonesia in the nearfuture.
The International Rubber Conference Organization (IRCO) is an association of rubber societies
around the world, which plan the calendar for the main international rubber conferences. The headquarter is in Institute of Materials (IOM) in London. IRC has started in 1938 in London and now
there are 19 member countries and societies like American Chemical Society, Rubber Division,
Deutsche Kautschuk-Gesellschaft, Society of Rubber Industry, Japan and so on. IRC includesscientific and technical papers and large scale technical exhibition. It is held only once in a year
somewhere in the world. IRC is so important and popular in this field that the schedule is filleduntil 2018. This time there were 84 oral papers and 51 posters from 22 countries with more than
650 participants. The papers were not only given by the academia but also from industries like
Michelin, Bridgestone, Goodyear, Continental, DuPont, CIBA, Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benzand so on. There were 168 exhibitors from 23 countries using 10000m2 and there were more than2700 visitors from all over the world. The main exhibitors were like Cabot, EvonikDegussa, ExxonMobil Petroleum, Lanxess Deutschland, Polimeri Europa, Solvay Solexis, Zeon
Europe and so on. However, the presence of Japan was weak in the paper presentation andexhibition. The details are at www.irc2009.de andhttp://www.internationalrubberconference.org/society.html.
The next IRC2010 is scheduled to take place in November in India.