EN JP 0:   Introduction   1:   Toxicity evaluation of iPS cells   2:   Intelligence-lab   3:   Non-destructive testing   4:   Column contact Column 3: The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP): 2 Sales Director at Systems Engineering Inc.Toshihiro Takata The 70th JSAP Spring Meeting 2023 was also memorable in a sense that it was the first JSAP meeting that offered awards targeted exclusively at female researchers. The awards were titled “JSAP Diversity & Inclusion Awards”. The Saruhashi Prize is famous as an award exclusively targeted at female researchers. I believe it is a good trend that their achievements are recognized in a tangible way in the field of physical engineering that was once said to be the “men’s world”. Although you would reasonably argue that excellent researchers should receive recognition regardless of gender, I think it is a good sign showing the old-fashioned world of physics is adopting flexible thinking. The first recipients of the JSAP Diversity & Inclusion Awards are (honorifics omitted); Mihoko Maruyama (Osaka University), Maki Kushimoto (Nagoya University), and Yu-Chieh Lin (RIKEN). The chairperson of a symposium in the Spring Meeting was Ms. Megumi Akai (Osaka University) and one of the three vice presidents of JSAP is Ms. Kaoru Tamada (Kyushu University). Women are becoming to play bigger roles in JSAP, which […]

EN JP 0:   Introduction   1:   Toxicity evaluation of iPS cells   2:   Intelligence-lab   3:   Non-destructive testing   4:   Column contact Column 2: The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP): 1 Sales Director at Systems Engineering Inc.Toshihiro Takata Dr. Tatsuo Uchida delivered a commemorative speech at the 70th JSAP Spring Meeting 2023 as a JSAP Outstanding Achievement Award recipient. He gave a comprehensible speech that seems easy to understand even for young people about the history of R&D and industrialization of liquid crystal technology whose domestic production achieved a peak about 20 years ago. Listening to his speech reminded me, for the first time in a while, of the fact the liquid crystal technology was originated in Japan. Dr. Uchida has achieved results not only in the research area of the liquid crystal technology but also its industrialization. The technologies he has developed are indispensable for the current LCD (liquid crystal display) production. They have been continuously handed on to the next generations at production sites in Japan and abroad and are rightfully assembled in our television sets. Dr. Uchida, based in Tohoku University in Sendai, the City of Trees, supported the advancement of liquid crystal technology from a scientific perspective in its early days through to the period of growth. I know very […]

EN JP 0:   Introduction   1:   Toxicity evaluation of iPS cells   2:   Intelligence-lab   3:   Non-destructive testing   4:   Column contact Column 1: Entropic Way of Viewing Sales Director at Systems Engineering Inc.Toshihiro Takata Each person has their own way into a scientific world. Some people became caught up in mathematics/science in the school curriculum; others got influenced by their cram school teachers, family members, or relatives. As for me, I was not weak in science related subjects in my school days, but not particularly interested in the field of science. The reason such a person joined a company whose name includes “Science” and became engaged in technology-related jobs is the encounter with Jeremy Rifkin’ s work concerning entropy. Owing greatly to him, Second Law of Thermodynamics attracted public attention as an economic term. It denotes the irreversibility in thermodynamic processes and is quite convenient to understand scientific phenomena and economic system as well. It seems to me that this should be the very way we understand and solve the problems in our society. We live in a closed space of “Spaceship Earth” (borrowed from Mr. K.E. Boulding): “What should we do” from now on? To quote from Entropy: A New World View by Jeremy Rifkin: “……the idea that human labor and machinery create […]