# Leo Esaki

> Japanese physicist (1925-)

**Wikidata**: [Q179852](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q179852)  
**Wikipedia**: [English](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Esaki)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/leo-esaki

## Summary
Leo Esaki is a Japanese physicist (born 12 March 1925) known for a long research and academic career spanning industrial research laboratories and Japanese universities. He is a Nobel Prize in Physics recipient and has held affiliations with IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo, among other institutions.

## Biography
- Born: 12 March 1925
- Nationality: Japan
- Education: (listed in source as educated_at: Q7842, Q336264, Q11602219 — institutions include the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University as connected entities in the source)
- Known for: Career as a physicist with major industrial and academic affiliations and numerous national and international honors
- Employer(s): IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center; Sony Group / Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL); Kyoto University; University of Tokyo; Shibaura Institute of Technology; University of Tsukuba; (other institutional affiliations and employers are listed among source employer QIDs)
- Field(s): Physics

## Contributions
- International research and institutional leadership: The source documents Leo Esaki as a physicist affiliated with major research organizations and universities, including IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center and Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), and as an affiliate of Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo. His institutional roles are recorded across industrial research and academic employers in the source material.
- Recognized scientific contributions (honored by major awards): The source lists Leo Esaki as a recipient of high-level awards and recognitions, including the Nobel Prize in Physics, the Order of Culture, IBM Fellow, Person of Cultural Merit, Japan Prize, Asahi Prize, Nishina Memorial Prize, Japan Academy Prize, IEEE Medal of Honor, IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, Stuart Ballantine Medal, Harold Pender Award, and the James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials. The source identifies these awards as associated with him (award_received property and the separate Awards / Recognition list).
- Memberships and academy affiliations: The source records memberships or associations with major learned societies and academies, including the National Academy of Sciences, the Japan Academy, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Russian Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze (detected among related/member_of entries).
- Public, archival and identifier presence: The source records many structured identifiers, authority records, and public assets tied to Leo Esaki (for example: P569 birthdate; P1559 Japanese name 江崎玲於奈; aliases Reona Esaki; P18 images "Leo Esaki 1959.jpg" and "Esaki leo Gakushiin.jpg"; and many external identifiers listed under structured properties).

Note: the source material documents awards, memberships, employers, institutional affiliations and numerous bibliographic/authority identifiers connected to Leo Esaki. Specific paper titles, patent numbers, or explicit single-year dates of individual awards are not provided in the supplied material, so they are not asserted here beyond what the source lists.

## FAQs
Q: What is Leo Esaki's nationality and profession?
A: Leo Esaki is a Japanese physicist.

Q: When was Leo Esaki born?
A: He was born on 12 March 1925.

Q: Where has Leo Esaki worked?
A: The source lists affiliations and employers including IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Sony Group / Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL), Kyoto University, the University of Tokyo, Shibaura Institute of Technology and the University of Tsukuba; additional employer QIDs are recorded in the source material.

Q: What major awards has Leo Esaki received?
A: The source associates him with multiple major honors, including the Nobel Prize in Physics, Order of Culture, IBM Fellow, Person of Cultural Merit, Japan Prize, Asahi Prize, Nishina Memorial Prize, Japan Academy Prize, IEEE Medal of Honor and other named awards in the source list.

Q: Under what other names is Leo Esaki known?
A: He is also recorded under the alias Reona Esaki and in Japanese as 江崎玲於奈 (Japanese orthography) with reading えさき れおな.

Q: Is Leo Esaki connected to learned academies?
A: Yes. The source material shows associations with several national and international academies and learned societies, including the Japan Academy and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, among others.

Q: Where can I find images or authority records for Leo Esaki?
A: The source lists image files ("Leo Esaki 1959.jpg", "Esaki leo Gakushiin.jpg") and numerous structured identifiers and authority codes (see Body → Identifiers).

## Why They Matter
Leo Esaki's recorded profile in the source material shows he occupies a prominent position at the intersection of industrial research and academic physics in Japan and internationally. His receipt of the Nobel Prize in Physics and many other high-level honors marks him as a figure whose work was recognized at the highest levels. That recognition implies contributions of foundational importance to physics and technology, and the breadth of institutional affiliations (major industrial research centers such as IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Sony research laboratories, and leading Japanese universities such as Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo) indicates influence across both applied research and academic training. Memberships in multiple national academies amplify that effect: they show peers in different countries recognized his scientific stature. Without the work and leadership documented by these honors and affiliations, the source implies that lines of research and institutional collaborations in mid-to-late 20th century physics and applied physics in Japan and in international industrial labs would have lacked a central, highly honored contributor.

## Notable For
- Being listed in the source as a Nobel Prize in Physics recipient.
- Receiving top national recognitions recorded in the source, including the Order of Culture and Person of Cultural Merit.
- Earning major professional and engineering awards cataloged by the source (for example: IBM Fellow, IEEE Medal of Honor, IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award, Stuart Ballantine Medal, Harold Pender Award).
- Being associated with the Japan Prize, Asahi Prize, Nishina Memorial Prize and Japan Academy Prize as recorded in the supplied material.
- Holding affiliations with major research employers and institutions: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center; Sony Group / Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL); Kyoto University; University of Tokyo; Shibaura Institute of Technology; University of Tsukuba.
- Membership or association with leading scholarly bodies as listed: National Academy of Sciences, Japan Academy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze.
- Extensive bibliographic and authority presence: numerous external identifiers and archival records are attached to his profile in the source material.

## Body

### Names, language forms and identifiers
- Full name as used in the source: Leo Esaki.
- Japanese orthography and reading: 江崎玲於奈 (kanji); えさき れおな (kana).
- Alias: Reona Esaki.
- Visual assets in source: P18 images include "Leo Esaki 1959.jpg" and "Esaki leo Gakushiin.jpg".
- The source lists many structured identifiers and authority strings associated with Leo Esaki (selection shown exactly as in the source): P213 0000000109950844; P214 84976375; P227 1050470435; P244 n81089684; P269 121894975; P271 DA00687174; P345 nm8805365; P349 00005643; P373 Leo Esaki; P434 9ad52635-a1de-4b12-998b-c4ecfed39961; P549 345615; P569 +1925-03-12T00:00:00Z; P646 /m/01fx9z; P691 ola2002161283; P1006 06913474X; P1153 56731294500; P1187 A028450; P1207 n97061417; P1263 880/000099583; P1284 00000013768; P1296 0024470; P1375 000097659; P1417 biography/Leo-Esaki; P1559 江崎玲於奈; P1814 えさき れおな; P2021 9.0; P2163 77302; P2381 162332; P2456 182/9542; P2924 4938508; P3219 leo-esaki; P3222 leo-esaki; P3360 14575; P3368 1302174; P3430 w6b5992p; P4789 U15077; P4862 B001JOBM3K; P5019 esaki-leo; P5063 i95052; P5298 66412; P5380 47091; P5909 9811115841103406; P6479 38108395800, 37087300163; P6551 11508012; P7184 01fx9z; P7305 3898592; P7666 leo-esaki; P7982 18341; P8024 97; P8179 ncf11494973; P8189 987007373543205171; P8313 Leo_Esaki; P8349 19998; P8814 10980914-n; P9545 211391; P10133 52917; P10242 01926/eu_e_3177/e3177; P10565 116760; P10832 E39PBJfx8GmwpGmcKV4KkpqG73; P11249 13988782; P11496 1140282266750802048; P11514 esaki-leo-4eef06; P12385 leo-esaki; P12582 20110803095757525; P13049 1050470435; P13408 28169; P13591 person/1410f8db-2681-488f-a5a6-df1e5627a0d9; P13613 121033; P14225 981005685036009366.

### Early life and identity
- Birth: The source records Leo Esaki's birthdate as 12 March 1925 (P569 +1925-03-12T00:00:00Z).
- Linguistic and name forms: The source preserves multiple name forms (Roman-script Leo Esaki, alias Reona Esaki, Japanese kanji and kana). These forms appear across authority files and encyclopedia entries listed in the structured properties.

### Education and training (as recorded)
- The source includes educated_at entries (Q7842, Q336264, Q11602219). The broader source text includes the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University as institutions connected to the subject area and to Esaki in the affiliated/employer lists; therefore these universities appear in the educational/affiliation context recorded for him in the supplied material.

### Career and institutional affiliations
- Industrial research affiliations:
  - IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center is listed in the source among institutions connected to Leo Esaki.
  - Sony Group and Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL) appear in the source; Sony CSL explicitly lists "physicist Leo Esaki" among notable affiliates in the Sony-related material in the source.
- Academic affiliations:
  - Kyoto University and the University of Tokyo are both named in the source as institutions in the "Affiliated with" and structured property sections.
  - Shibaura Institute of Technology is present in the source as a higher education institution and appears among the collection of institutions associated with the broader dataset; employer QIDs in the structured properties map to multiple academic employers.
  - University of Tsukuba and other Japanese universities appear in the source's affiliated-institutions lists and employer-related QIDs.
- The source records many employer QIDs (Q336264, Q4614615, Q743615, Q8054621, Q1036470, Q11479168, Q41187, Q476208) indicating a career spanning multiple named organizations in industrial and academic sectors.

### Honors, prizes and recognitions
- The source explicitly lists a set of awards and recognitions associated with Leo Esaki (Award / Recognition block and award_received property). Named awards in the supplied material include:
  - Nobel Prize in Physics
  - IBM Fellow
  - Order of Culture (Japan)
  - Person of Cultural Merit (Japan)
  - Japan Prize
  - Asahi Prize
  - Nishina Memorial Prize
  - Japan Academy Prize
  - IEEE Medal of Honor
  - IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award
  - Stuart Ballantine Medal
  - Harold Pender Award
  - James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials
- Institutional honors and membership: The source lists memberships and associations with the National Academy of Sciences, Japan Academy, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Russian Academy of Sciences, American Philosophical Society and Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze.

### Publication, archival and public record presence
- The source attaches many bibliographic, authority, archive and identifier strings to Leo Esaki’s record (see Identifiers above). These reflect broad presence across library, archival and scholarly databases as recorded in the supplied material.
- The source lists a Wikipedia title "Leo Esaki" and a Wikidata description "Japanese physicist (1925-)" with a sitelink_count of 74 for the person.

### Institutional and community impact (documented associations)
- Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL) lists Leo Esaki among notable affiliates in the Sony-related source material, indicating an ongoing or recorded connection to Sony's research community.
- IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center appears among employer/affiliation entries, showing documented ties to international industrial research infrastructure.
- Multiple Japanese universities appear in the source as affiliated or employer entities, reflecting his integration into Japan's academic research and education systems.

### Media and public materials
- Photographic media listed: "Leo Esaki 1959.jpg" and "Esaki leo Gakushiin.jpg".
- The source records multiple web and database handles (e.g., leo-esaki, esaki-leo, leo_esaki) across platforms and authority systems.

### Scope and limits of the supplied material
- The source provides a dense set of facts about Leo Esaki's identity, awards, institutional affiliations, memberships, aliases and identifiers. It does not, within the supplied excerpts, provide itemized lists of his scientific papers, specific patent numbers, the precise year for each award as awarded to him, or single-line descriptions of individual technical inventions. The supplied material therefore focuses on institutional, honorific and bibliographic dimensions of his career rather than a catalogue of technical publications or patent documents.

### Cross-references in the source
- The supplied material cross-links Leo Esaki to many entities: Kyoto University, University of Tokyo, Shibaura Institute of Technology, University of Tsukuba, IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Sony Group / Sony CSL, national and international academies, and many awards and institutional recognitions. These same institutions and awards appear as named entries elsewhere in the source material and are reproduced in this entry to reflect the full set of relationships recorded.

(End of entry — all facts and connections in this profile are those present in the supplied source material.)

## References

1. [IBM Impact: Fellows](https://www.ibm.com/about/fellows)
2. [Source](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1973/)
3. [Source](https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/amounts/)
4. [Leo Esaki | The Franklin Institute](https://fi.edu/en/awards/laureates/leo-esaki)
5. [Source](https://events.seas.upenn.edu/distinguished-lectures/pender-lecture/)
6. [Source](https://corporate-awards.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/liebmann_rl.pdf)
7. [THE ASAHI PRIZE(English version)](https://www.asahi.com/corporate/award/asahi/12737983)
8. [The Japan Prize Foundation](https://www.japanprize.jp/en/prize_prof_1998_esaki.html)
9. [Source](https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/prizes/mcgroddy.cfm)
10. [The Imperial Prize,Japan Academy Prize,Duke of Edinburgh Prize Recipients 51st - 60th | The Japan Academy](https://www.japan-acad.go.jp/en/activities/jyusho/051to060.html)
11. International Standard Name Identifier
12. Virtual International Authority File
13. National Diet Library
14. CiNii Research
15. MusicBrainz
16. NNDB
17. [Leo Esaki – NAS](https://www.nasonline.org/directory-entry/leo-esaki-axpoif/)
18. [Personal Information - ESAKI Leo | The Japan Academy](https://www.japan-acad.go.jp/en/members/4/esaki_leo.html)
19. [Leo Esaki | American Academy of Arts and Sciences](https://www.amacad.org/person/leo-esaki)
20. [Эсаки Лео. | ИС АРАН](https://isaran.ru/?q=ru/person&guid=42E02E78-1003-EB2C-13EA-8E2D697D3177)
21. [Dr. Leo Esaki](https://www.nae.edu/28169/wd)
22. Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1969–1978)
23. Integrated Authority File
24. SNAC
25. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
26. Brockhaus Enzyklopädie
27. Munzinger Personen
28. Freebase Data Dumps. 2013