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. I first knew Yamada when we over lapped on the IEEE Computer Society History Committee. [David Walden, August 2020]

Yamada has been the most dependable contributor to the Events and Sightings Department of the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing between 2005 and 2020 (see list below). His contributions to the department are an impressive aid in !earning 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 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 of Yamada’s comments about computing history in Japan: Comments by Akihiko Yamada — History of Computing in Japan (annals-extras.org/pubs/es-2015-yamada-comments.pdf). (This 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.)

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. Tsutomu Sasao has pointed me to Professor Yamada’s involvement in a very recent publication on computing in Japan: Remarks on the Design of First Digital Computers in Japan — Contributions of Yasuo Komamiya, lsi-cad.com/sasao/Papers/files/EUROCAST2019_stanko.pdf

Fit the following from annals-extras.org into the story: - Yamada Comments, 2015 book edited by Radomir Stankovic: this book is photographic view of Akihiko Yamada's work studying and documenting Japanese computing history. - On Dr. Stankovic's connections to Prof. Yamada This piece provides some details about Prof. Yamada's activities and their value to TICSP and to computing history more generally. The next document explains more about the TICSP history project. -The Work in History of Information Sciences at TICSP This piece describes the work at the Tampere International Center for Signal Processing to document then a number of areas of signal processing history.

check the following against https://dblp.org/pid/80/3116.html

Beginning of bibliography for Yamada

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2006 28‑1 Obituary: Shigeru Takahashi Akihiko Yamada p. 91-92

28‑2 The 50th Anniversary of the First Japanese Digital Computer Akihiko Yamada p. 67-69

2007 29‑4 Obituary: Kazuhiro Fuchi Akihiko Yamada p. 95

2008 30‑2 Obituary: Hiroshi Wada Akihiko Yamada p. 68

30‑2 Obituary: Zen-iti Kiyasu Akihiko Yamada p. 68-69

30‑3 PC-1 Parametron Computer: 50th anniversary Akihiko Yamada p. 74

30‑3 Osaka University: Exhibit of 1950s computer Akihiko Yamada p. 74-75

2009 31‑1 Conference memorializes Takakazu Seki Akihiko Yamada p. 64

31‑1 50th anniversary: SENAC-1 Akihiko Yamada p. 64-65

31‑3 <a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2009/03/index.html>IPSJ Information Processing Technology Heritage Program</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-September 2009, pp. 78-80

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2010/02/index.html>IPSJ Information Processing Technology Heritage Certification Ceremony</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2010, pp. 83-85 ??I 2010 31‑3 IPSJ Information Processing Technology Heritage Program Akihiko Yamada p. 78-80  ??

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2011/02/index.html>IESP 50th Anniversary; IPSJ Third Information Proecssing Technology Heritage Certification</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2011, pp.107-109

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2011/03/index.html>History of Computers Exhibition at Hiroshima City Library</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-Septembers 2011, pp. 82-83

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2012/02/index.html>2011 NEC C&C Foundation Prize Ceremony</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2012, pp. 63-67

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2012/02/index.html>IPSJ 4th Information Processing Technology Heritage Certification Ceremony</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2012, pp. 63-67

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2012/03/man2012030070.html#target1>IEEJ Commoration: One Step in Electrotechnology</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-September 2012, p. 70

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2013/01/index.html>2012 Koyoto Prize to Ivan Sutherland</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, January-March 2013, pp. 67-71?

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2013/02/index.html>IPSJ 75th National Convention at Tohoku University</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2013, pp. 78-81

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2013/02/index.html>IEEJ Technical Meeting on the History of Computer Engineering</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, April-June 2013, pp. 76-78

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2013/0/index.html>Kyoto Computer Gakuln Celebrates 50th Anniversary</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-September 2013, pp. 74-76

<a href=http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2013/0/index.html>UNIVAC 120 in Japan</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-September 2013, pp. 73-74

<a href=http:/www.computer.org/csdl/mags/an/2014/01/index.html>IEEE Milestone Awarded to Toshiba's T1100 Laptop PC</a>
Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, January-March 2014, pp. 83-84

Akihiko Yamada, Events and Sightings, Annals of the History of Computing, July-September 2014, pp. 86-88

2018 40‑3 IPSJ Certifies 100 IP Technology Heritage Artifacts in 10 Years Akihiko Yamada p. 105-112

2019 41‑1 Parametron and Relay Computers Exhibition Held at Tokyo University of Science in November, 2018 Akihiko Yamada p. 61-63

41‑2 2018 NEC C&C Prize Ceremony Akihiko Yamada p. 64-66