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Brief history of spectroscopic research in Japan
Spectrochimica
Vol. 5OA. No. 819, pp. 1343-1344, 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain 0584-8539/94 $7.00 + 0.00
Acta,
EDITORIAL Brief History of Spectroscopic Research in Japan The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish together results of recent spectroscopic studies by Japanese researchers. In today’s Japan, a wide variety of studies are being carried out in almost all branches of molecular spectroscopy. It should be made clear, however, that the papers in this Special Issue represent only a part of spectroscopic studies currently performed in Japan. Spectroscopic research in Japan dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Needless to say, the subject of study at that time was concerned with atomic spectra. The first spectroscopic study in Japan was conducted at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo in the laboratory of Hantaro Nagaoka (1865-1950), who is regarded as a founder of modern physics in Japan. The University of Tokyo, established in 1877, was the first Japanese ‘university’ in the sense of the West. At the time of its establishment, many scholars were invited from Western Europe and United States of America to teach various disciplines including physics and chemistry, but most of them were replaced by Japanese professors before the end of the nineteenth century. In 1909, Toshio Takamine (188%1955), then a graduate student in Nagaoka’s laboratory, started studies on the Zeeman effect of spectral lines. In 1918, after staying at Kyoto University (established in 1897) for a few years, he became head of the spectroscopy laboratory in the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (created in 1917 in Tokyo) and remained in this position for more than 30 years. He published a number of first-rate papers on the Zeeman and Stark effects of spectral lines in journals such as Nature, Astrophysical Journal, Physical Review, Zeitschrift fiir Physik, etc. Takamine made overseas travels three times between 1919 and 1941 for periods of more than one year each time, and stayed at a number of prominent laboratories in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and United States of America (for example, the laboratories of Niels Bohr at the University of Copenhagen and Robert W. Wood at Johns Hopkins University). Otto Laporte who found Laporte’s rule stayed at Takamine’s laboratory in .1928 for half a year. Takamine was the first Japanese spectroscopist renowned internationally. Another important spectroscopist contemporary with Takamine was Masamichi Kimura (1883-1962). Kimura, a graduate of Kyoto University, went to Robert W. Wood’s laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in 1915 and stayed there for two years. After coming back to Japan, Kimura became a professor of physics at the Faculty of Science of Kyoto University in 1917, and conducted spectroscopic studies mainly on solids and gas-phase atoms for 26 years. He was the first in Japan to observe the Raman spectra of a few substances, immediately after the first report by C. V. Raman in 1928 on the effect now bearing his name. Many students and young physicists trained under Kimura as well as Takamine became capable physical spectroscopists. The originator of chemical spectroscopy in Japan was Yuji Shibata (1882-1980), a graduate of the University of Tokyo. He was engaged in absorption spectroscopic studies of cobalt complexes while he was staying at the University of Leipzig, University of Zurich and the University of Paris from 1910 to 1913. On his return to Tokyo, Shibata was appointed professor of inorganic chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, and carried out numerous studies in coordination chemistry, spectrochemistry and geochemistry for about 30 years. Shibata contributed greatly to the promotion of chemical spectroscopy by writing in Japanese a book entitled Spectrochemistry in 1921. This book, consisting of four parts on spectroscopic instruments, emission spectra, absorption spectra and luminescence spectra, covered all kinds 1343
1344
Editorial
of knowledge collected by that time from atomic and molecular spectra. Many chemists with a strong spectroscopic background were brought up under his supervision. San-ichiro Mizushima (1899-1983) was a young physical chemist in the laboratory of Masao Katayama, a colleague of Shibata, when Mizushima succeeded in 1926 in observing anomalous dispersion and absorption of electric waves in liquid alcohols. This was the first major achievement in molecular spectroscopy by a Japanese scientist who had no previous experience of study abroad. After publishing the result of the above work, Mizushima went to Europe in 1929 and stayed in Peter Debye’s laboratory at the University of Leipzig for two years. After coming back to Tokyo, he started a series of studies on internal rotation in molecules by means of measurements of dielectric constants and Raman spectra, and discovered the existence of the tram and gauche forms in 1,2-dihalogenoethanes. This brilliant work was the starting point of spectroscopybased structural chemistry in Japan. Mizushima supervised many students while he held one of the chairs of physical chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo for more than 20 years until 1959. A surprisingly large number (more than 70) of those students later taught at many universities all over Japan. Yonezo Morino, who worked under Mizushima in the 1930s as a research associate, was appointed a professor of physical chemistry at the same department in 1948, and remained in this position until 1969. His main research efforts were directed toward accurate determination of molecular structure by electron diffraction, microwave spectroscopy and nuclear quadrupole resonance. His laboratory had close contact with Koichi Shimoda’s laboratory in the Department of Physics of the same Faculty. Shimoda was the leading physicist in Japan in microwave and laser spectroscopies which developed rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. These two laboratories supplied many spectroscopists now actively engaged in high-resolution molecular spectroscopy. In 1940, Takehiko Shimanouchi (1916-1980), then a student of Mizushima, started infrared studies of molecules with internal-rotation axes by using a Carl Zeiss spectrometer equipped with a rock-salt prism, which was imported from Germany shortly before the freezing of international trade due to the spread of war in Europe. This was the beginning of the use of infrared spectrometers in chemical laboratories in Japan. (In the field of physics, some studies relating to infrared spectroscopy had been conducted in the laboratories of Takamine and Kimura mentioned above.) In 1942, Shimanouchi proposed the Urey-Bradley-Shimanouchi force field to carry out normal-coordinate calculations for a number of basic molecules. These studies expanded enormously after World War II with the development of high-quality infrared spectrophotometers in the 1950s and the introduction of electronic computers in the 1960s. Shimanouchi succeeded Mizushima’s chair in 1959 and held it until 1977. Many of the currently active vibrational spectroscopists in Japan were trained in his laboratory. Saburo Nagakura, another student of Mizushima, performed a variety of studies on charge-transfer complexes and molecular electronic states in general for about 30 years, as professor of the molecular science section at the Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo and, at the same time, as the chief adjunct scientist of the physical organic chemistry section at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. After his retirement from these positions, Nagakura accepted the directorship of the Institute of Molecular Science (created in 1975 in Okazaki) in 1981 and held his position until 1987. He has been president of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Yokohama since its creation in 1988. Many of the former students of Nagakura are developing their studies on molecular electronic states and excited-state dynamics by spectroscopic methods at various universities and research institutes. Among 31 principal authors of the papers collected in this Special Issue, at least 25 scientists are former students of one of Mizushima, Morino, Shimanouchi and Nagakura, or of one of their students. We hope that this Special Issue conveys useful information to overseas spectroscopists and will induce more vigorous exchange of information and ideas between Japan and other countries. MITSIJO TASUMI Mrrsuo 1~
Vol. 5OA. No. 819, pp. 1343-1344, 1994 Elsevier Science Ltd. Printed in Great Britain 0584-8539/94 $7.00 + 0.00
Acta,
EDITORIAL Brief History of Spectroscopic Research in Japan The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish together results of recent spectroscopic studies by Japanese researchers. In today’s Japan, a wide variety of studies are being carried out in almost all branches of molecular spectroscopy. It should be made clear, however, that the papers in this Special Issue represent only a part of spectroscopic studies currently performed in Japan. Spectroscopic research in Japan dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. Needless to say, the subject of study at that time was concerned with atomic spectra. The first spectroscopic study in Japan was conducted at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo in the laboratory of Hantaro Nagaoka (1865-1950), who is regarded as a founder of modern physics in Japan. The University of Tokyo, established in 1877, was the first Japanese ‘university’ in the sense of the West. At the time of its establishment, many scholars were invited from Western Europe and United States of America to teach various disciplines including physics and chemistry, but most of them were replaced by Japanese professors before the end of the nineteenth century. In 1909, Toshio Takamine (188%1955), then a graduate student in Nagaoka’s laboratory, started studies on the Zeeman effect of spectral lines. In 1918, after staying at Kyoto University (established in 1897) for a few years, he became head of the spectroscopy laboratory in the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (created in 1917 in Tokyo) and remained in this position for more than 30 years. He published a number of first-rate papers on the Zeeman and Stark effects of spectral lines in journals such as Nature, Astrophysical Journal, Physical Review, Zeitschrift fiir Physik, etc. Takamine made overseas travels three times between 1919 and 1941 for periods of more than one year each time, and stayed at a number of prominent laboratories in Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands and United States of America (for example, the laboratories of Niels Bohr at the University of Copenhagen and Robert W. Wood at Johns Hopkins University). Otto Laporte who found Laporte’s rule stayed at Takamine’s laboratory in .1928 for half a year. Takamine was the first Japanese spectroscopist renowned internationally. Another important spectroscopist contemporary with Takamine was Masamichi Kimura (1883-1962). Kimura, a graduate of Kyoto University, went to Robert W. Wood’s laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in 1915 and stayed there for two years. After coming back to Japan, Kimura became a professor of physics at the Faculty of Science of Kyoto University in 1917, and conducted spectroscopic studies mainly on solids and gas-phase atoms for 26 years. He was the first in Japan to observe the Raman spectra of a few substances, immediately after the first report by C. V. Raman in 1928 on the effect now bearing his name. Many students and young physicists trained under Kimura as well as Takamine became capable physical spectroscopists. The originator of chemical spectroscopy in Japan was Yuji Shibata (1882-1980), a graduate of the University of Tokyo. He was engaged in absorption spectroscopic studies of cobalt complexes while he was staying at the University of Leipzig, University of Zurich and the University of Paris from 1910 to 1913. On his return to Tokyo, Shibata was appointed professor of inorganic chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, and carried out numerous studies in coordination chemistry, spectrochemistry and geochemistry for about 30 years. Shibata contributed greatly to the promotion of chemical spectroscopy by writing in Japanese a book entitled Spectrochemistry in 1921. This book, consisting of four parts on spectroscopic instruments, emission spectra, absorption spectra and luminescence spectra, covered all kinds 1343
1344
Editorial
of knowledge collected by that time from atomic and molecular spectra. Many chemists with a strong spectroscopic background were brought up under his supervision. San-ichiro Mizushima (1899-1983) was a young physical chemist in the laboratory of Masao Katayama, a colleague of Shibata, when Mizushima succeeded in 1926 in observing anomalous dispersion and absorption of electric waves in liquid alcohols. This was the first major achievement in molecular spectroscopy by a Japanese scientist who had no previous experience of study abroad. After publishing the result of the above work, Mizushima went to Europe in 1929 and stayed in Peter Debye’s laboratory at the University of Leipzig for two years. After coming back to Tokyo, he started a series of studies on internal rotation in molecules by means of measurements of dielectric constants and Raman spectra, and discovered the existence of the tram and gauche forms in 1,2-dihalogenoethanes. This brilliant work was the starting point of spectroscopybased structural chemistry in Japan. Mizushima supervised many students while he held one of the chairs of physical chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo for more than 20 years until 1959. A surprisingly large number (more than 70) of those students later taught at many universities all over Japan. Yonezo Morino, who worked under Mizushima in the 1930s as a research associate, was appointed a professor of physical chemistry at the same department in 1948, and remained in this position until 1969. His main research efforts were directed toward accurate determination of molecular structure by electron diffraction, microwave spectroscopy and nuclear quadrupole resonance. His laboratory had close contact with Koichi Shimoda’s laboratory in the Department of Physics of the same Faculty. Shimoda was the leading physicist in Japan in microwave and laser spectroscopies which developed rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. These two laboratories supplied many spectroscopists now actively engaged in high-resolution molecular spectroscopy. In 1940, Takehiko Shimanouchi (1916-1980), then a student of Mizushima, started infrared studies of molecules with internal-rotation axes by using a Carl Zeiss spectrometer equipped with a rock-salt prism, which was imported from Germany shortly before the freezing of international trade due to the spread of war in Europe. This was the beginning of the use of infrared spectrometers in chemical laboratories in Japan. (In the field of physics, some studies relating to infrared spectroscopy had been conducted in the laboratories of Takamine and Kimura mentioned above.) In 1942, Shimanouchi proposed the Urey-Bradley-Shimanouchi force field to carry out normal-coordinate calculations for a number of basic molecules. These studies expanded enormously after World War II with the development of high-quality infrared spectrophotometers in the 1950s and the introduction of electronic computers in the 1960s. Shimanouchi succeeded Mizushima’s chair in 1959 and held it until 1977. Many of the currently active vibrational spectroscopists in Japan were trained in his laboratory. Saburo Nagakura, another student of Mizushima, performed a variety of studies on charge-transfer complexes and molecular electronic states in general for about 30 years, as professor of the molecular science section at the Institute for Solid State Physics, University of Tokyo and, at the same time, as the chief adjunct scientist of the physical organic chemistry section at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. After his retirement from these positions, Nagakura accepted the directorship of the Institute of Molecular Science (created in 1975 in Okazaki) in 1981 and held his position until 1987. He has been president of the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Yokohama since its creation in 1988. Many of the former students of Nagakura are developing their studies on molecular electronic states and excited-state dynamics by spectroscopic methods at various universities and research institutes. Among 31 principal authors of the papers collected in this Special Issue, at least 25 scientists are former students of one of Mizushima, Morino, Shimanouchi and Nagakura, or of one of their students. We hope that this Special Issue conveys useful information to overseas spectroscopists and will induce more vigorous exchange of information and ideas between Japan and other countries. MITSIJO TASUMI Mrrsuo 1~