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China awards Shin-ichi Kurokawa for his international scientific cooperation

| 2 February 2012

Shin-ichi Kurokawa receives the 2011 award for International Scientific Cooperation from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Image: CAS

Shin-ichi Kurokawa, professor emeritus of KEK, and vice president of Cosylab, is one of three international scientists to have been awarded the 2011 award for International Scientific Cooperation, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced on 18 January.

This award is given to honour eminent foreign experts who make outstanding contributions to facilitating cooperation with CAS in science and technology, and to encourage more efforts that will strengthen CAS’s innovation capacity and lead to improvements in its research performance, education and training, management, and reputation in the international scientific community.

Kurokawa has visited China 58 times, fostering a cooperative relationship in accelerator science between China and Japan. Since the eighties, he has been actively promoting academic cooperation and exchanges in science and technology, collaborating with Chinese researchers at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics and the University of Science and Technology of China, and the Institute of Modern Physics.

In 1999, he organised the first major Asian accelerator school held in Beijing and carried it to a successful conclusion. In 2000, he initiated a collaborative programme between the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and CAS. This programme continued for 10 years, involving many institutions and universities in China and Japan.

“Through this programme, over 800 scientific visits were made, and many conferences and workshops were successfully carried out,” Kurokawa said. “Also numerous high-quality papers were published based on this collaboration.” Later, Korea and India also participated in the project, expanding the collaborative programme to be Asian-wide.

Kurokawa also helped IHEP to upgrade the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC) to a two-ring electron-positron collider, BEPC II, especially, transferring the superconducting accelerating technology used at the KEKB accelerator in Japan to China. He also served as a member of the Machine Advisory Committee for the BEPC II. “This is a well-deserved award for Professor Kurokawa, who is very much appreciated at IHEP for his devotion to pushing the collaboration between IHEP and KEK,” said Jiuqing Wang, IHEP deputy director.

Kurokawa served as chair of the Asian Committee for Future Accelerator (ACFA) from 2004 to 2006, and chair of the Steering Committee for the International Linear Collider (ILCSC) from 2005 to 2007.

“I faced difficulties in dealing with differences of culture between the two countries, as I recall. However, it was a great pleasure to promote and deepen the collaborative relationship with our Chinese colleagues. I am quite confident that this collaboration will grow further based on the strong foothold we have built,” Kurokawa said.

Founded in Beijing in November 1949, CAS is China’s top academic and research institution in natural sciences. The other two winners are Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University in the US and Flemming Besenbacher of the Danish-Chinese Centre for Self-Assembly and Function of Molecular Nanostructures on Surfaces in Denmark.

A version of this article first appeared on KEK website

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Recent Comments

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  • Sameen Ahmed Khan says:

    Dear Professor Kurokawa,

    Heartiest Congratulations!

    With warm regards + best wishes

    Sameen

    Sameen Ahmed KHAN
    Engineering Department
    Salalah College of Technology,
    Salalah, Sultanate of OMAN.

    • Shin-ichi Kurokawa says:

      Dear Dr Khan,

      Thank you for your congratulation mail.

      I clearly remember you. You came to KEK when an accelerator school was held about 20 years ago in Japan.

      I have one question to you: have you something to do with SESAME?

      Best regards
      Shin-ichi