Obituary: Dr. Kiyoshi Okazaki (1925-1997)

0 1998 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association)

Ferroelecrrics, 1998, Vol. 205, pp. 1-4

Amsterdam B.V. Published under license under the Gordon and Breach Science Publishers imprint. Printed in India.

Reprints available directly from the publisher Photocopying permitted by license only

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OBITUARY: DR. KIYOSHI OKAZAKI (1925 - 1997) HIROSHI MAIWAa and NOBORU ICHINOSEb aDepartment of Materials Science and Ceramic Technology, Faculty of Engineering, Shonan Institute of Technology, 1-1-25 Tsujidou-Nishikaigan, Fujisawa, Kanagawa 251, Japan; bDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, 3-4-1 Ohkubo, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169, Japan (Received 20 June 199 7)

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Dr. Kiyoshi Okazaki, Professor emeritus of the National Defense Academy, Yokosuka and a former professor of the Shonan Institute of Technology, Fujisawa, passed away at the age of 71 in Yokohama. He entered a hospital due to esophagus cancer in October, 1996. While being treated, using his word professor and many floppy disks, he wrote his autobiography, essays, and technical reviews in bed. He had been looking forward to attending IMF-9, Seoul, in order to present a tutorial lecture. His condition took a sudden turn for the worse in February, and despite all efforts by the doctors, family and himself, he died on March 11, 1997. His death is a great loss to the international ferroelectric society. His numerous research publications and presentations at scientific society meetings over a long span of years are fruitful memorials to his achievements in ferroelectrics. Dr. Kiyoshi Okazaki was born in Tokyo on October 26, 1925. After graduating from a military school, he was appointed a Second Lieutenant in the Japan Army on August 1, 1945. Only 15 days after this appointment, Japan surrendered and World War 2 was over. He was not allowed to hold public office for 6 years due to his 15 days of military service. After the war, he entered the Department of Electrical Engineering, Kyoto University. When he was a senior, he entered Prof. Kiyoshi Abe’s Laboratory, where he used barium titanate ceramic as the subject of his graduation thesis. Since then and for about 50 years, he devoted all his energy to the research activity of ferroelectric ceramics up to his death. After he graduated from Kyoto University in 1949, he joined Murata Store (now, Murata Manufacturing Company), Kyoto, which was not a company, only a small business in those days. He worked enthusiastically in order to put ceramic capacitors to practical use. He successively held various posts including senior researcher, sales manager and executive of the Fukui plant. He helped Mr. Akira Murata (former president of Murata Manufacturing Company) and significantly contributed toward building the firm foundation for the present multinational Murata Manufacturing Company. In 1955, Dr. Okazaki succeeded in moving to the National Defense Academy, Yokosuka, where he immediately started his fundamental research career on ferroelectric ceramics. He published many enlightening papers on the relationship between the microstructure and electrical properties of barium titanate, PZT and other ferroelectric ceramics. He introduced hot-pressing and presented pioneering studies on controlling the grain orientations of ferroelectricceramics with anisotropic structure, which included layered structure ferroelectrics, SbSI, and tungsten bronze ferroelectrics. In addition, he clarified the mechanism of electrical transport in


OBITUARY: DR.KIYOSHI OKAZAKI

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dielectric ceramics; he insisted that the existence of a space charge was the key factor in understanding and controlling the electrical properties of dielectric ceramics. His colleagues during these years at the National Defense Academy, Profs. H. Igarashi, T. Yamamoto, K. Nagata and S . Tashiro, succeeded him, and have been continuously conducting productive research activities on ferroelectric ceramics. From 1984 to 1988, Dr. Okazaki was a Vice-president of the National Defense Academy. He liked teaching, and his enthusiastic and clear lectures fascinated students. He wrote several textbooks. One of them, a compilation of his research, Ceramic Engineering for Dielectrics, which was first published in 1969 by Gakken-sha, Publishing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, has been widely welcomed by students, engineers and researchers who study dielectric ceramics. The latest edition is the 1992 Fourth Edition. Most of the subjects in this book are based on his own experimental data. Since the book described in detail the experimental procedure like a cookbook, the reader can start studying dielectric ceramics using the book. This book was translated into Russian and published by the Energy Publishing Office, Moscow, in 1976. After leaving the National Defense Academy, he moved to the Shonan Institute of Technology, Fujisawa, in order to establish and chair the Department of Materials Science and Ceramic Technology. He invited able faculty members from all over Japan. The department started with 100 freshmen and the very latest modern equipment in 1989. His scientific interests during those years at Shonan involved ferroelectric thin films. After retiring from the Shonan Institute of Technology in 1995, he founded the Okazaki Ceramic Laboratory in Yokohama. Technical consulting and lecturing were his main interests. In addition to research, Dr. Kiyoshi Okazaki demonstrated his outstanding ability as an organizer of national and international conferences and seminars. He was a member of the steering committee for the Meeting on Ferroelectric Materials and their Applications, Kyoto. He and Prof. L. Eric Cross of Pennsylvania State University played a major role in establishing the US: Japan Meeting on Dielectric and Piezoelectric Ceramics with the objective of bringing together both academic and industrial scientists from these areas in order to build confidence and to exchange information for the mutual benefit of both groups. He and Prof. Cross cochaired the first and the second meetings. Dr. Okazaki was also a vicechairman of the Japan: USSR Ferroelectric Symposium in 1984 and a member of the international steering committee of the International


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Conference on Transparent Ferroelectrics: Production, Properties and Applications, Riga, in 1991. He made great efforts to promote good relations between Japan and the other countries. He and Prof. J. A. Pask of the University of California, Berkeley, whom he respected as “a great grand teacher of ceramics”, made great efforts to initiate the Richart M. Fulrath Award. The Late Professor Richard M. Fulrath of the University of California, Berkeley, who rendered service to promote better relations between Japan and the United States, was Dr. Okazaki’s best friend. The award was initiated in 1977 to promote continued friendship, understanding, and exchange of knowledge across the Pacific. It is coadministered by a committee of Japanese ceramic scientists, and a committee composed of members of the Northern California Section of the American Ceramic Society. The 20th Memorial Symposium will be held in San Fransisco on October 12- 14, 1997. Dr. Okazaki has been a Fellow of The American Ceramic Society since 1980. He was given an award by IEEE in 1988, and was recognized as Academician of the Academy of Ceramics, Italy, in 1991. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal of the Ceramic Society of Japan in 1995. Being an Honorary Doctor of the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, he dedicated great efforts toward strengthening cooperation between Japan and Latvia in the field of science, culture and human relationships. His personality was active and outspoken. He was very sincere, friendly and sociable. Everyone was attracted by his excellent human nature, and he had many friends all over the world. He worked in close collaboration with many young and upcoming scientists (including one of us, H.M) and students, and encouraged them to do the best of their ability. He loved drinking and singing very much. Okazaki’s open house during international meetings has been much appreciated by the participants. He was excellent at entertaining guests and greatly enjoyed being the host. He was also a very caring father and husband. He helped his wife through a long illness for ten years. He was survived by a son, five daughters and fourteen grand children. Prof. Cross once called Dr. Okazaki “the last samurai” (traditional Japanese warrior). He liked being called that and adopted it as the subtitle of his autobiography. He is truly “the Father of Ceramic Engineering for Dielectrics”. May his soul rest in peace and tranquillity.