 , was a japanese theoretical physicist and the first japanese nobel laureate. ==biography== he was born as hideki ogawa in tokyo and grew up in kyoto. in 1929, after receiving his degree from kyoto imperial university, he stayed on as a lecturer for four years. after graduation, he was interested in theoretical physics, particularly in the theory of elementary particles. in 1932, he married , and his family name was changed to yukawa; they had two sons, harumi and takaaki. in 1933 he became an assistant professor at osaka university, at age 26. in 1935 he published his theory of mesons, which explained the interaction between protons and neutrons, and was a major influence on research into elementary particles. in 1940 he became a professor in kyoto university. in 1940 he won the imperial prize of the japan academy, in 1943 the decoration of cultural merit from the japanese government. in 1949 he became a professor at columbia university, the same year he received the nobel prize in physics, after the discovery by cecil frank powell, giuseppe occhialini and cÃ©sar lattes of yukawa's predicted pion in 1947. yukawa also worked on the theory of k-capture, in which a low energy electron is absorbed by the nucleus, after its initial prediction by g. c. wick.pp. 11â12, k-electron capture by nuclei, emilio segrÃ©, chapter 3 in discovering alvarez: selected works of luis w. alvarez, with commentary by his students and colleagues, luis w. alvarez and w. peter trower, university of chicago press, 1987, isbn 0-226-81304-5. yukawa became the first chairman of yukawa institute for theoretical physics in 1953. he received a doctorate, honoris causa, from the university of paris and honorary memberships in the royal society, [[royal society of edinbu
1907_births 1981_deaths Columbia_University_faculty Fellows_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Edinburgh Foreign_Members_of_the_Royal_Society Foreign_Members_of_the_USSR_Academy_of_Sciences Japanese_Nobel_laureates Japanese_physicists Kyoto_University_alumni Kyoto_University_faculty Laureates_of_the_Imperial_Prize Nobel_laureates_in_Physics Osaka_University_faculty Particle_physicists People_from_Tokyo Recipients_of_the_Order_of_Culture Theoretical_physicists University_of_Paris_alumni University_of_Tokyo_faculty