Japan and the Nobel Science Prizes: The First Half Century, 1901-1949

Ohio State University Research Foundation -Do Not Use, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

Support is requested to complete the research for a book dealing with the Japanese scientific community and the Nobel Prizes during the first half of the twentieth century. The book will have ten chapters in all, seven case study chapters of eight Japanese Nobel candidacies (two combined in one chapter) and additional chapters discussing the social, political, and intellectual context of the project; Japanese scientists' activities as Nobel nominators; and the conclusions drawn from the study. The time parameters reflect the Nobel institution's 50-year rule regarding use of archival materials. Conception of the project reflects earlier historical work on the creation of a modern tradition of scientific research in Japan after 1868 but with some attention to developments in the preceding centuries. It is also informed by the intense public and professional interest in the Nobel Prizes evident in Japan since 1981. Although the physicist Yukawa Hideki succeeded in winning a Nobel Prize in 1949, several other strong Japanese candidates were unsuccessful in the period. A number of essays and short books have briefly discussed some of these candidacies but never with any use of archival materials. These commentaries often assume that each Japanese candidate was wrongly denied an award, and that some form of racism was likely responsible. While not denying that racism existed at the time among some in the international scientific community and acknowledging that such beliefs could sometimes have influence, this study broadens the frame of reference and advances several other factors to explain developments: Japanese factionalism, meddling by Japanese officials, the shift away from German and French and toward English after World War I, and Japanese concentration in medicine, a particularly broad, highly competitive research arena.