Science and the Building of a New Japan

M. Low

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2005
• Print ISBN: 9781349530557, 9781403968319
• eBook ISBN: 9781403976925
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

This book highlights the importance of individuals in the shaping of postwar Japan by providing an historical account of how physicists constituted an influential elite. An history of science perspective provides insight into their role, helping us to understand the hybrid identity of Japanese scientists, and how they reinvented not only themselves, but also Japan. The book is special in that it uses the history of science to deal with issues relating to Japanese identity, and how it was transformed in the decades after Japan's defeat. It explores the lives and work of seven physicists, two of whom were Nobel prize winners. It makes use of little-known Occupation period documents, personal papers of physicists, and Japanese language source material.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• List of Abbreviations and Other Major Institutions
• List of Illustrations
• 1. The Making of the Japanese Physicist
• 2. Mobilizing Science in World War II: Yoshio Nishina
• 3. The Impact of the Allied Occupation: Nishina and Nakasone
• 4. Physicists on the Left: Sakata and Taketani
• 5. The Politics of Pure Science: Yukawa and Tomonaga
• 6. Corporate Science: Sagane
• 7. Science on the International Stage: Hayakawa
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Glossary
• Index