Kenichi Fukui

Kenichi Fukui (October 4, 1918–January 9, 1998) was a Japanese chemist. He won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.NobelPrize.org, "Kenichi Fukui" ; retrieved 2012-9-17.

Early life
Fukui was the oldest of three sons of Ryokichi Fukui, who was a merchant. He was born in Nara, Japan.

He graduated from Kyoto Imperial University in 1941.

Career
Fukui worked at the Army Fuel Laboratory of Japan during World War II.{

In 1943, he was appointed a lecturer in fuel chemistry at Kyoto Imperial University.

He was professor of physical chemistry at Kyoto University from 1951 to 1982.

He was president of the Kyoto Institute of Technology between 1982 and 1988.

Fukui shared the 1981 Nobel Prize with Roald Hoffmann.  Fukui and Hoffmann worked separately on the mechanisms of chemical reactions.  Fukui explained in his Nobel lecture that, 
"It is only after the remarkable appearance of the brilliant work by Woodward and Hoffmann that I have become fully aware that not only the density distribution but also the nodal property of the particular orbitals have significance in such a wide variety of chemical reactions."NobelPrize.org,  "Nobel Lecture"; retrieved 2012-9-17.

Honors
 Japan Academy Medal, 1962 
 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1981 
 Order of Culture, 1981 
 Order of the Rising Sun, Grand Cordon, 1988 
 Royal Society (UK), foreign member, 1989

Related pages 
 List of Nobel Prize winners by country

References

Category:1918 births
Category:1998 deaths
Category:Japanese chemists
Category:Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Category:People from Nara Prefecture
Category:Japanese Nobel Prize winners
Category:Kyoto University alumni
Category:Kyoto University faculty
Category:Nobel Prize in Chemistry winners