Japanese astrophysicist Masatoshi Koshiba, a co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in physics for confirming the existence of elementary particles known as neutrinos, has died at age 94
TOKYO — Japanese astrophysicist Masatoshi Koshiba, a co-winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in physics for confirming the existence of elementary particles known as neutrinos, has died. He was 94.
Koshiba, a distinguished professor on the College of Tokyo, died at a Tokyo hospital on Thursday, the college introduced Friday. It did not present a explanation for dying.
Koshiba devised the development of big underground chambers to detect neutrinos, elusive particles that stream from the solar.
Neutrinos provide a singular view of the solar’s inside workings as a result of they’re produced in its coronary heart by the identical course of that causes the solar to shine.
He shared the prize with two different scientists — the late Raymond Davis Jr. of the College of Pennsylvania, who additionally labored on neutrino detectors, and the late Italian-born scientist Riccardo Giacconi, who was cited for X-ray telescopes that present sharper photos of the universe.
Koshiba labored on the Kamiokande neutrino detector, an enormous facility constructed within the mountains in central Japan. He confirmed and prolonged Davis’ work, and in addition found neutrinos coming from distant supernova explosions, a few of the brightest objects within the universe.
Koshiba’s contribution led to subsequent discoveries. His pupil, Takaaki Kajita, received the Nobel Prize in physics in 2015 for analysis on the Tremendous-Kamiokande facility that discovered neutrinos have mass.
Koshiba was energetic in science training for younger folks, and established a primary science basis utilizing his Nobel Prize award to supply studying experiences for highschool and school college students.
A local of Toyohashi in central Japan, Koshiba graduated from the College of Tokyo in 1951 and studied in the US earlier than returning to Japan in 1958 to pursue his analysis.
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