Oral-History:Toshio Mitsui

About Toshio Mitsui

Prof. Toshio Mitsui was born in 1926 in Hida, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. He graduated in Physics at the Hokkaido University, under the guidance of Prof. Furuichi. His area of research was on domain observations in Rochelle Salt. His research continued at the Pennsylvania State University (1956) with Prof. Pepinsky, Dr. Jona, and Dr. Okaya. His main scientific interests were on crystal symmetry and structure, using neutron diffraction at Brookhaven. These were early days of ferroelectrics, with new compounds being discovered at a rapid pace, as extended at MIT with Profs. Von Hippel, Newnham, and Westphal. Upon his return to Hokkaido University, he published his seminal book on “The Introduction to the Physics of Ferroelectrics” and completed ferroelectric data for Landolt-Bӧrnstein. In 1969, he moved to Osaka University, leaving ferroelectrics for the exciting field of biophysics.

This interview describes Mitsui’s early life and early days of ferroelectrics with some of the top researchers in the field.

About the Interview

Toshio Mitsui: An interview by Thomas R. Shrout, IEEE History Center, conducted in Takarazuki, Japan, September 22, 2016

Interview #780 for the IEEE History Center, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Copyright Statement

This manuscript is being made available for research purposes only. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the IEEE History Center. No part of the manuscript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Director of IEEE History Center

It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows:

Toshio Mitsui, an oral history conducted in 2016 by Thomas R. Shrout and Akira Ando, IEEE History Center, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Inc.

Interview

INTERVIEWEE: Toshio Mitsui

INTERVIEWERS: Thomas R. Shrout and Akira Ando (Murata Inc.)

DATE: September 22, 2016

PLACE: Takarazuki, Japan

Early Life and Education

Shrout:

Well, it’s a great pleasure to be here. I always enjoy coming to Japan when I get a chance. I think I have traveled to Japan maybe 20 times.

Mitsui:

20 times? You like?

Shrout:

I like it. Well, we have always had many, many friends from Japan, also that come to Penn State. You spent one year? Or about one year?

Mitsui:

Penn State—what’s the name of the town—State College now?

Shrout:

Well the town is called State College, and it’s University Park for the Pennsylvania State University.

Mitsui:

University Park?

Shrout:

University Park—that’s the airport.

Mitsui:

University Park? Not State College?

Shrout:

No, it’s still State College. State College is the town, and University Park is the college.

Shrout:

Yes. It’s a little confusing. We all say State College. (laughter) So—this is an interview for the IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society, and I just want to welcome you, and I guess we can begin. Dr. Ando, let’s begin. I have already read some very interesting stories of you. So where is the Gifu Prefecture?

Mitsui:

Gifu Prefecture? That is near Nagoya.

Shrout:

Nagoya, yeah. So, could you tell us a little bit about growing up in Japan, and perhaps what influenced you to go into physics?

Mitsui:

My family moved near Sapporo in Hokkaido in my childhood. I entered middle school in Japan. In those days, I used to climb mountains whose tops could be seen from Sapporo City, together with my good friend. The World War II began at the second year of my middle school. Then I entered Hokkaido University. The war ended in my second year of undergraduate course of the university. In the war, Japanese government asked students of Hokkaido University to help farmers. In the farm, I learned how to grow rice plant. In the year when the war ended, some were very poor in Hokkaido, and we worked practically no crops.

Shrout:

So, you gave up farming? No more farming?

Mitsui:

Sorry, I have trouble in speaking.

Shrout:

Oh, your English is very good. So what were some of the early stories that influenced you going to university?

Mitsui:

My elder brother graduated from Tokyo Science University, so that I was already familiar with university.

Shrout:

Did he do physics?

Mitsui:

Physics. He learned technology rather than pure physics.

Shrout:

Why did you choose Hokkaido University?

Mitsui:

At that time, there were seven national universities, which were thought high level in Japan. Hokkaido University was one of them, and sits relatively near my home. Also, I loved the beautiful campus of the university.

Shrout:

When did you first hear of ferroelectrics?

Mitsui:

In my last year of undergraduate course, I was preparing my graduation thesis under guidance of Prof. Furuichi (who became a president of Hokkaido University later). At that time, solid state physics was a major interest among physicists. Prof. Furuichi asked me to write my thesis concerning Rochelle salt, since Rochelle salt crystals were available to us thanks to Dr. Marutake. So I started to learn on ferroelectrics. According to Dr. Marutake, in the World War II (1939-1945) Japanese navy was interested in Rochelle salt as an element of electro-acoustic transducer to search submarines, together with quartz. Eight months before the end of the war, Dr. Marutake was asked to be a member of research group on Rochelle salt. Probably this research group is the same as mentioned by Dr. Fukada in the interview of IEEE Oral-History. They succeeded to grow large single crystals of Rochelle salt of good quality. Dr. Marutake kindly gave us large good crystals of Rochelle salt for our study.

Shrout:

I am interested in what kind of equipment did you have back then to study Rochelle salt, and what were some of the challenges for doing research?

Mitsui:

There was practically no equipment in our laboratory. For instance, there was no Braun tube to observe hysteresis loop. We were trying to construct a bridge to measure dielectric constants. But liquid nitrogen could be used. Polarization microscopes were available in neighboring laboratory. In preparing my thesis, I read the paper by Matthais and von Hippel on domain structure of barium titanate published in 1946. In this connection, I learned crystal optics and thought there could be a little possibility to observe domain structure of Rochelle salt by polarization microscope. In those days, I had a good friend, Mr. Yoshio Katsui in the same building. (Mr. Katsui became an authority of volcanology later.) He was very kind to teach me how to make good specimen to observe twin structures under polarization microscope. Thanks to him, we could observe the domain structure of Rochelle salt. In those days, probably no other person imagined the possibility to observe domain structure of Rochelle salt by polarization microscope, and my talk on the domain structure gathered many audience in Meetings of the Physical Society.

When I reported our observation, some researchers in Tokyo claimed that they could not observe domain structure in Rochelle salt under polarization microscope. The spontaneous polarization of Rochelle salt appears between -18 and 24 degrees centigrade, and becomes maximum around 0 degrees. At that time, 5 years after the war, heating system did not work well in Hokkaido and we had to work in cold laboratory, which was a favorable condition to observe domain structure of Rochelle salt. Possibly their laboratory in Tokyo was too comfortable to observe the domain structure of Rochelle salt.

Shrout:

That’s a good story. Dr. Cross tells us the same type of story. During winter time, to look at the lower phase transitions in BaTiO3, he took the microscope out on the window sill when it was cold to allow observation of low temperature phases. How did you get the opportunity to go to Penn State University?

Mitsui:

About 60 years ago, situation was extremely different from now in Japan. It was a rare case for scholars to go abroad at that time. In 1955, I finished the postgraduate course and was appointed as an assistant professor of physics. For my opportunity to go to Penn State, I am very grateful to Dr. P. W. Anderson. In 1953, International Conference on Theoretical Physics was held in Kyoto. After the conference, several foreign scholars visited Hokkaido University. I still remember the moment that Drs. Mott, Neel, and P. W. Anderson together got in our room to see domain wall motion in Rochelle salt. By the way these three scholars got Nobel prizes later.

Dr. Anderson came from Bell Telephone Laboratories. At that time, Bell Telephone people were interested in ferroelectric domain structure in connection with memory devices in computers. Dr. Anderson gave a lecture on dynamics of ferroelectric domain wall. I learned many from his lecture. Dr. Anderson appeared to be sympathy for our poor laboratory and later kindly presented to us several text books including Cady’s “Piezoelectricity” and Mason’s “Piezoelectric crystals and their application to ultrasonics”.

After studies on domain structure of Rochelle salt, I could not find any way to continue research. I hesitated but wrote to Dr. Anderson asking whether there could be any chance to work in the United States. He suggested me to write to Prof. Pepinsky. I was very happy to hear from Prof. Pepinsky that he can accept me in his laboratory. There was the regulation that the government supplies one-way travel expenses to the scholars in such a case as I. So I could arrive at State College, Penn State University.

Shrout:

It’s still State College. When you flew there, there was only a very small airport?

Mitsui:

Black Moshannon. I flew from Pittsburgh to State College by very small airplane.

Shrout:

We still use small airplanes. So, coming from Penn State myself, did you follow football or other activities?

Mitsui:

I am sorry, I have only poor knowledge on sports. Presumably Penn State baseball team is a very strong team. Is it?

Shrout:

Football was always strong at Penn State, not baseball.

Mitsui:

Oh, I see. I remember that once Dr. Newnham took me to see Red Socks game at Boston Stadium. It’s my only experience with baseball.

Shrout:

What did you enjoy doing in State College? Did you have some other hobbies besides studying ferroelectrics?

Mitsui:

I walked around the village and I enjoyed the drive around the mountains in autumn—it is very beautiful.

Shrout:

That’s my favorite time. How long were you at Penn State?

Mitsui:

I stayed in Penn State for less than one year but continued to be a member of Pepinsky’s group. Prof. Pepinsky had two diffractometers at Brookhaven National Laboratory for neutron diffraction. I worked at Brookhaven on leave from Penn State University for about 2 and half years from 1957, doing neutron diffraction experiments.

During my stay, Pepinsky’s Laboratory consisted of four groups: Those for dielectric measurements, X-ray crystal analysis, chemical synthesis, and electronic devices. Dr. Jona was a leader of dielectric measurement group, and Dr. Okaya was a leader of X-ray crystal structure analysis. Dr. Jona was a very nice person, and I was very happy to work with him, and contributed a little to finding new ferroelectrics. I learned many on X-ray diffraction thanks to Dr. Okaya. Also he was so kind to teach me how to drive a car. Number of known ferroelectrics increased rapidly from 1955. One can see how the number increased, for instance, in an article “Ferroelectrics and Antiferroelectrics” in Springer Handbook, which is my last writing on ferroelectricity. The rapid increase of ferroelectrics was mainly due to Prof. Pepinsky’s laboratory at Penn State, Dr. Matthias’ group in Bell Telephone Laboratories, and Prof. Sawada’s group in Tokyo Institute of Technology.

In staying in Pepinsky’s laboratory, I had a chance to observe a race of discovery of ferroelectric crystals between Pepinsky’s group and Matthias’ group. When we found a new ferroelectric crystal, Prof. Pepinsky proudly telephoned Dr. Matthias informing the discovery, and Dr. Matthias did the same to Prof. Pepinsky.

Pepinsky’s laboratory had a large X-ray Analogue Computer called XRAC. It served crystallographers all-over the world for Fourier series calculations. However, a little before my stay at Penn State, IBM built a computer center in New York City, and the role of XRAC was almost terminated. I remember that X-ray group frequently visited the computer center in New York, carrying many punched cards in trunk of their car. I did neutron diffraction experiments at Brookhaven for about 2 and half years from 1957. At that time, neutron beam from graphite pile was so weak that it needed several hours to measure one Bragg reflection. Accordingly, there was ample time for me to do theoretical considerations, and I could write a paper titled “Theory of the ferroelectric effect in Rochelle salt”.

According to the statistical mechanics, degree of order increases with decreasing temperature. A ferroelectric phase is considered as an ordered phase and thus expected to appear at low-temperatures. Actually most ferroelectric phases appear at low temperatures. Rochelle salt is an exception. It is ferroelectric between -18 and 24 degrees centigrade, and its crystal symmetry is high below -18 degree and above 24 degrees. Apparently, this is against the general idea of the statistical mechanics. I wished to know how Rochelle salt type ferroelectricity is theoretically possible.

In the paraelectric phases, Rochelle salt consists of two sub-lattices, which have spontaneous polarizations antiparallel to each other. I considered a model crystal consisting of two sub-lattices which have spontaneous polarizations antiparallel to each other and assumed that there is interaction between the two sub-lattices to make their polarizations parallel. After many calculations, I could make a chart, which demonstrates conditions that ferroelectric phase appears. The chart consists of three regions. In region I, a crystal is ferroelectric below a critical temperature. In region II, a crystal is ferroelectric in an intervening temperature range like Rochelle salt. In region III, a crystal is paraelectric at all temperatures. The region II is quite narrow, which means that Rochelle salt type ferroelectrics appear under very delicate balance among molecular interactions. Thus I understood that Rochelle salt type ferroelectricity is theoretically possible but rarely occurs.

Shrout:

Very unusual material. So you then worked at MIT?

Mitsui:

From 1960 to 1961, I worked in Laboratory for Insulation Research of Prof. von Hippel at MIT. There were mainly three research groups in the laboratory: Newnham group on X-ray diffraction, Westphal group on dielectric measurements and Economos group for ceramics preparation.

I belonged to X-ray group of Newhnam. I studied solid solutions of calcium and barium titanates, and solid solutions of calcium and strontium titanates, in cooperation with Dr. Westphal. Although there were already some data on these solid solutions, there were various ambiguities, and we tried to get more reliable data by using very good ceramics. We made detailed phase diagrams of these solid solutions in very wide temperatures range using liquid helium.

Ionic radius of calcium is smaller than barium. It was expected that replacement of barium by calcium in barium titanate causes changes in lattice shape and in polarizability due to ionic displacement. One of my questions was which effect is prevailing. By experiment, we found that the Curie temperature of barium titanate increases by replacing a small amount of barium by calcium. It means that molecular polarization of calcium ions prevails lattice deformation when amount of calcium is small.

My experiences at Penn State and MIT are extremely valuable. In both laboratories, there was nice cooperation among groups under excellent leadership of the head of the laboratory. The type of leader, however, was very different. Prof. Pepinsky was the hardest worker I ever saw. He appeared to work in his laboratory three times in one day; at morning, at afternoon and at midnight. No one could do the same as he. On the contrary, Professor von Hippel was an aristocratic leader.

I loved the calm, peaceful atmosphere in State College in the Quaker State. In campus of Brookhaven Lab, I met deer and squirrels several times, and enjoyed village life in Long Island. Boston Museum has wonderful collection of oriental and western arts. I had good chance to evaluate Japanese art comparing to Western or Chinese art. I visited Boston Museum almost every Sunday.

Shrout:

You worked for Prof. von Hippel, Newnham, Westphal; you worked with a very strong and very diverse group. Was that important to your research?

Mitsui:

Yes. I knew that ferroelectricity of barium titanate was found at Prof. von Hippel’s laboratory in the United States. But I did not know details of his laboratory before going to MIT. Personally, there was a limit of my stay in the United States by visa regulation. I wished to spend my last one year to study oxide ferroelectrics in Prof. von Hippel`s laboratory. I wrote to him about my wish and he kindly admitted me to work in his laboratory.

Shrout:

It seems at Penn State and MIT there were very strong and diverse groups, and we say interdisciplinary, which for me was the same with Prof. Cross, Prof. Newnham, and Biggers; we had physics, crystallography, and ceramic processing. So that was very important to have a strong group in ferroelectrics. Do you think this was key to their success too?

Mitsui:

Yes, I think that nice cooperation of diverse groups was a key of their success. 　Presumably the nice cooperation was produced by able group leaders and excellent leadership of laboratory heads, as in the case of Penn State.

Shrout:

And good visiting scientists, like you.

Mitsui:

Yes (laughter).

Shrout:

What were some of the challenges being in the United States then?

Mitsui:

I had to leave the United State by limitation of visa period, and directly returned to Japan from MIT, via trans-continental railroad and trans-oceanic ship. Fortunately Hokkaido University accepted me. A very long trip.

Shrout:

Living in the United States, was there some challenge for you? The food, or the people, or other challenges—very different from Japan.

Mitsui:

I feel like it was very easy in the United States, in a different sense from Japan. At that time, the United States had bright atmosphere. During the Vietnam War, I visited New York City, and I was surprised to see how very dark atmosphere in New York. During my stay at Penn State and MIT, I feel the United States in the brightest period.

Return to Japan

Shrout:

So you went to Hokkaido University. How important was it to get some excellent students?

Mitsui:

We were passive for the problem: how to get excellent students. We simply accepted postgraduate students who wished to get into our group. This was new behavior in Japan.

Ando:

In US you can choose students.

Shrout:

Yes, we choose.

Ando:

But we can’t in Japan.

Mitsui:

At Hokkaido University, I formed a research group for ferroelectrics with Drs. Nakamura and Shiozaki. We were very happy to study ferroelectrics with young students.

In those days, Japan was economically growing rapidly, and our laboratory could be equipped by standard experimental apparatus for X-ray diffraction and for dielectric measurements, and a computer.　

We wished to know more about molecular mechanism in order-disorder ferroelectric phase transitions, and did various studies, especially on critical X-ray scattering and critical slowing-down of dielectric constants.

Critical X-ray scattering is a kind of diffuse scattering. Theoretically, we got an expression of the critical X-ray scattering by Fourier series of correlation functions. Also we proved that the dielectric constant is proportional to sum of correlation functions. It was a very happy finding that there is such a close relation between X-ray diffuse scattering and dielectric constant through correlation functions.

Experimentally, the critical scattering was observed as expected, in direction and in temperature dependence having a peak at the Curie point. Dr. Nakamura investigated the critical slowing-down in detail. The dielectric constant became minimum instead of maximum at the Curie point when measured at high frequency, as observed also by several other workers.

These results imply the followings. Each dipolar molecule in crystal behaves almost independently at high temperatures. Correlation among dipolar molecules increases with decreasing temperature, and dipolar molecules tend to form clusters.

The clusters destroy the crystal periodicity and produces the diffuse critical scattering. Response of the crystal against the applied electric field becomes sluggish as the clusters grow. Accordingly, the dielectric constant becomes minimum instead of maximum at the Curie point when measured at high frequencies. 　

In 1965, The Second International Meeting on Ferroelectrics was held in Kyoto. We invited Prof. von Hippel and Prof. Pepinsky to the conference. They visited Hokkaido University before the conference. We enjoyed a small sight-seeing trip. At Kyoto, Mr. Murata, the head of Murata Manufacturing Company invited the two professors with me to a high class Japanese restaurant. I still remember beauty of Japanese garden in night under quiet lightening. The two professors also appeared much impressed by the beauty. We published two books at Hokkaido University.

There was a series of books on solid state physics in Japan. Prof. Matsubara of Kyoto University recommended me as an author of a book on ferroelectricity in the series. I wrote the book on ferroelectricity with Dr. Tatsuzaki and Dr. Nakamura. It was a hard work to complete the book. The first Japanese edition was published in 1969. Dr. Lefkowitz had been my good friend from the days at Brookhaven. He suggested me to translate the book into English. Translation was done by Drs. Ishibashi, Tatsuzaki, Nakamura and Burfoot. The book was published by Gordon and Breach in 1976, with the title “An Introduction to the Physics of Ferroelecrics”.(10) There were several favorable book reviews.

Shrout:

A very good book.

Mitsui:

Dr. Jona was very kind for me at Penn State. He remembered me and recommended me to Springer as a scholar to prepare Landolt-Bӧrnstein Tables for ferroelectrics. Our first volume (Volume 3) was made by cooperation with 13 Japanese scholars, including Drs. Marutake, Ikeda, Nomura, Sawaguchi, and Nakamura. These workers had surprising memory on ferroelectrics, and I had very pleasant time in working with them in hot spring resorts during vacation time. The volume was published in 1969. At MIT, Prof. von Hippel told me about his wish to have a book to overview the field of ferroelectric research. I hoped that the volume answered his previous wish, and I was very happy to hear his kind comments on the volume. Also Prof. Pepinsky wrote me “God blesses the authors of such a book”. The Volume was supplemented by Volume 9 in 1975 and by series of subvolumes of Volume 16.

Shrout:

I use Landolt-Bӧrnstein —I have that book—I use Landolt-Bӧrnstein for looking at ferroelectrics all the time in my office. Prof. Nomura (co-contributor) also visited Penn State for one year. I was very lucky to meet him when I was a grad student.

Mitsui:

Oh, I see, I see.

Shrout:

I was in ceramic processing then, and Prof. Nomura was making relaxor perovskites ceramics.

Mitsui:

You were so young at that time.

Shrout:

I started Penn State in 1972, and Prof. Nomura came I think about 1977, he visited with his family.

Leaving Ferroelectrics

Shrout:

And then you moved to Osaka University, and you switched to biophysics. Why did you switch to biophysics from ferroelectrics?

Mitsui:

I moved to Osaka University in 1969. In those days, there was a trend that physicists were interested in biophysics. But, presumably my motif to biophysics was somewhat different from others. Prof. Takahashi of Tokyo University taught me about great significance of the book “Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata” by von Neumann and Burks published in 1966. I read the book carefully, spending long time and was very much impressed by it. The book explains that such linear tape as DNA is mathematically inevitable for living systems. Generally the book suggests possibility of mathematical systematization of biology.

Later in 1985, the Sixth International Meeting on Ferroelectricity was held in Kobe. Organizers of the meeting asked me to give an invited talk, in which I should explain why I was interested in biophysics. (Another invited speaker was Prof. Froehlich.) I prepared the talk with Drs. Sugata and Morita. Title of our talk was “On the two-dimensional model of biological system”, which is an extension of Neumann’s idea. Apparently the audience were disappointed with my talk. It is impossible to explain Neumann’s idea in limited time.

Actually Neumann theory is too abstract, and practically I spent most time for X-ray studies of biomembranes and muscles. Presumably the audience of the invited talk expected to hear about my experience in research on real biological systems. At present, I would like to point out the followings. Both ferroelectrics and biological systems are cooperative systems, and some methods used for ferroelectrics research are very useful to study biological systems. An example of studies based upon such an idea can be seen in our review “Theory of muscle contraction mechanism with cooperative interaction among crossbridges”.

There is another thing I would like to mention: Proteins are structurally polar and should be piezoelectric. Generally, physiological discussion is done neglecting this fact. As an exception, the piezoelectric effect was explicitly considered in our review “Proposed model for flagellar rotary motor with shear stress transmission”.

Prof. Pepinsky was also interested in biophysics after his retirement from Penn State. He stayed in our laboratory of Osaka University for several months. He looked happy in doing experiments on electric excitation of the plant, Nitella axilliformis.

Shrout:

Did Prof. Pepinsky retire from Penn State as an emeritus professor?

Mitsui:

He moved to Florida.

Shrout:

When did you retire from Osaka University?

Mitsui:

1990.

Shrout:

Then you moved to Meiji University. What did you do there, at Meiji University?

Mitsui:

I continued to study biophysics, and I made an x-ray microscope there. It was very high resolution, number one in the world. But it takes a very long time to take a (inaudible).

Shrout:

So over your career, what were you most proud of?

Mitsui:

I am only grateful to my favored fate that I met many able scientists who all were very kind to me.

Shrout:

I agree, I feel very lucky that I was able to meet and work with a very, very good group of scientists at Penn State.

Mitsui:

Generally, in the field of ferroelectrics, people are very good, compared to other groups. I feel so.

Shrout:

So are there any regrets or disappointments?

Mitsui:

At MIT, Dr. Westphal and I measured dielectric constants till very low temperatures with liquid helium. The ceramics group used to ask us to measure dielectric constants of their ceramics. One day the ceramics group asked us to measure dielectric constants of solid solutions containing bismuth. I remember this since I felt it strange that bismuth was a component of oxide ceramics. Also one day it happened that a ceramic condenser became conductive at very low temperature. We thought that electrodes were shorted, and did not reexamine the measurement, as the ceramics group were not interested in low temperature data. Later, in other laboratory, it was found that some oxide of barium, lead, and bismuth (Ba(Pb, Bi)O3) was high-temperature superconductor with the transition temperature around 10 degrees Kelvin. It is a pity to remember these three facts together.

Shrout:

I also worked on that material. We were making ceramic electrodes, so we wanted a ceramic electrode on a ceramic, or perovskite to perovskite. So, how would you convince today’s young people to go into solid state physics?

Mitsui:

I love solid state physics due to its beauty as a physical system, or as a branch of natural philosophy. It is a beautiful combination of detailed experimental observations and rigorous mathematical analysis. Presumably the beauty comes partly from periodic arrangement of molecules in solid, which makes it possible to reveal detailed molecular structure and behaviors by X-ray and neutron diffractions. Also, it has large fields of application connected with daily life. Of course, biophysics is an interesting and important field. At present, however, biophysics is an ensemble of applications of physical methods to biological systems, and does not have such beauty as solid state physics by itself. Presumably, it is a good choice for young people to go into solid state physics if they tend to like beauty of physical science.

Shrout:

Ando would you like to ask something, are you curious about the history?

Ando:

In my opinion, Prof. Mitsui’s great work is very fine phase transition mechanism of (inaudible), very original, the bridge to connect physics, so we should be proud of that work.

Mitsui:

Thank you very much.

Historical Photos

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  Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1958 (A). Pile reactor (white building), where many neutron diffraction experiments were done.

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  Brookhaven National Laboratory (B). Apparatuses for neutron diffraction were set closely to wall of the pile reactor. Prof. Pepinsky's diffractometer was set around the center of the photograph

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  MIT in 1960

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  At leaving MIT from Japan. From left: Prof. von Hippel

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  Dr. Shirane visited Penn State. From left: Prof. Pepinsky, Dr. Hoshino, Dr. Shirane, Dr. Jona

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  Dr. Newnham at MIT

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  At some international meeting. From left: Dr. Okaya

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  X-ray analogue computer (XRAC) in Prof. Pepinsky's laboratory in 1956 (A)

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  X-ray analogue computer (XRAC) in Prof Pepinsky's laboratory in 1956 (B). Most frequency parts of Fourier series were produced by electric devices. Low frequency parts of Fourier series were produced by mechanical devices.

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  Domain structure of Rochelle salt observed by a polarization microscope. A thin specimen cut perpendicular to the polarization direction (the a axis) is used. Magnification is 50. In neighboring domains there is a small deviation between their optical axes which are perpendicular to the a axis. This deviation causes different extinction positions for neighboring domains. (A) The c axis is rotated a little to left referring to the plane of Nicol prism. (B) Rotated a little to right.

Interview photos

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