Akihiko Yamada

This ETHW page is under construction.

This page is an appreciation of the work of Professor Akihiko Yamada. He is elderly and I want to speak of him while I believe he is still with us. [David Walden, August 2020]

I first knew Prof. Yamada when we overlapped on the IEEE Computer Society History Committee. Awareness of Yamada led to awareness that he was a frequent contributor to the Events and Sightings Department of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. In fact, he has been the most dependable contributor to the department between 2005 and 2020 (see list below). His contributions to the department are an impressive aid to anyone learning about the history-of-computing activities in Japan.

In addition to his writings for the Annals and service on the Computer Society History Committee, Professor Yamada was a member of the Society’s Board of Governors and lent significant support to opening the IEEE Computer Society's Tokyo office — IEEE's first office in the Asia-Pacific region). He also has published in Japan on its computing history.

As an expression of Yamada’s support of other researchers, in 2015 Radomir Stankovic collected and prepared a small book entitled Comments by Akihiko Yamada — History of Computing in Japan (annals-extras.org/pubs/es-2015-yamada-comments.pdf), a photographic view of Yamada's work studying and documenting Japanese computing history. (The just mentioned booklet is one of several history publications with which Stankovic has been involved in a belief that it is important that technologists be aware of the history of their technology; see "The Work in History of Information Sciences at TICSP"[link] which describes the work at the Tampere International Center for Signal Processing to document a number of areas of signal processing history.) The document "On Dr. Stankovic's connections to Prof. Yamada"[link] provides some details about Prof. Yamada's activities and their value to TICSP and to computing history more generally.

My understanding is that Yamada had an impressive technical career at NEC. He has an undergraduate degree and a doctoral degree from Osaka University. After retirement from NEC, he taught at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo Denki University and Cyber University. He became a Fellow of the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ) in 2002, given IPSJ Contribution Award in 2008, and declared IPSJ Honorary Member in 2018.

[need to review the following list for accuracy; need to cross check the list against https://dblp.org/pid/80/3116.html to see if they have anything that is not below]

Beginning of bibliography for Yamada

• Akihiko Yamada, Obituary: Shigeru Takahashi, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2006, 28‑1, p. 91-92.
• Akihiko Yamada, The 50th Anniversary of the First Japanese Digital Computer, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2006, 28‑2, p. 67-69.
• Akihiko Yamada, Obituary: Kazuhiro Fuchi, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2007, 29‑4, p. 95.
• Akihiko Yamada, Obituary: Hiroshi Wada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2008, 30‑2, p. 68.
• Akihiko Yamada, Obituary: Zen-iti Kiyasu, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2008, 30‑2, p. 68-69.
• Akihiko Yamada, PC-1 Parametron Computer: 50th anniversary, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2008, 30‑3, p. 74.
• Akihiko Yamada, Osaka University: Exhibit of 1950s computer, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2008, 30‑3, p. 74-75.
• Akihiko Yamada, Conference memorializes Takakazu Seki, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2009, 31‑1, p. 64.
• Akihiko Yamada, 50th anniversary: SENAC-1, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2009, 31‑1, p. 64-65.
• Akihiko Yamada, IPSJ Information Processing Technology Heritage Program, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2009, 31‑3, pp. 78-80.
• Akihiko Yamada, ELIS Revival Festival, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2010, 32-4, pp. 91-92.
• Akihiko Yamada, IESP 50th Anniversary; IPSJ Third Information Proecssing Technology Heritage Certification, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2011, 33-2, pp.107-109.
• Akihiko Yamada, History of Computers Exhibition at Hiroshima City Library, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2011, 33-3, pp. 82-83.
• Akihiko Yamada, 2011 NEC C&C Foundation Prize Ceremony, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2012, pp. 63-67.
• Akihiko Yamada, IPSJ 4th Information Processing Technology Heritage Certification Ceremony, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2012, 34-2, pp. 63-67.
• Akihiko Yamada, IEEJ Commoration: One Step in Electrotechnology, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2012, 34-3, p. 70.
• Akihiko Yamada, 2012 Koyoto Prize to Ivan Sutherland, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2013, 35-1, pp. 67-71.
• Akihiko Yamada, IEEJ Technical Meeting on the History of Computer Engineering, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2013, 35-2, pp. 76-78.
• Akihiko Yamada, IPSJ 75th National Convention at Tohoku University, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2013, 35-2, pp. 78-81.
• Akihiko Yamada, UNIVAC 120 in Japan, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-September 2013, 35-3, pp. 73-74.
• Akihiko Yamada, Kyoto Computer Gakuln Celebrates 50th Anniversary, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2013, 35-3, pp. 74-76.
• Akihiko Yamada, IEEE Milestone Awarded to Toshiba's T1100 Laptop PC, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2014, 36-1, pp. 83-84.
• Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2014, 36-3, pp. 86-88.
• Akihiko Yamada, IPSJ Certifies 100 IP Technology Heritage Artifacts in 10 Years, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2018, 40‑3, pp. 105-112.
• Akihiko Yamada, Parametron and Relay Computers Exhibition Held at Tokyo University of Science in November, 2018, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2019, 41‑1, pp. 61-63.
• Akihiko Yamada, NEC C&C Prize Ceremony, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, 2018, 41‑2, p. 64-66.
• Radomir S. Stanković, Tsutomu Sasao, Jaakko T. Astola , and Akihiko Yamada, Remarks on the Design of First Digital Computers in Japan — Contributions of Yasuo Komamiya, Compputer Aided Systems Theory — EUROCAST 2019, Springler, pp. 123-130, lsi-cad.com/sasao/Papers/files/EUROCAST2019_stanko.pdf.