CBC international #1: Yoshinori Tokura
September 19th, 2008 by Ψ*ΨIf my undergrad years in the middle of nowhere have taught me anything, it’s that great science can be found EVERYWHERE. Admittedly, both Excimer and I are from the US, and the research we blog about often–though not always–takes place within our country. This isn’t all we read in journals, though, and it’s not all we’re interested in. There’s a lot of international focus on organic materials, which is super awesome for those of us who wouldn’t mind spending a summer (or a semester, or a postdoc) abroad.[1] This brings us to the first researcher we’ll profile: Yoshinori Tokura.
Tokura, a physicist at the University of Tokyo (and RIKEN and AIST?), has done a lot of work with superconductors and multiferroics. (Enough, in fact, that they named the Tokura Multiferroics Project after him.) We should all know what ferromagnetism is. (Ferromagnets stick to your refrigerator! Duh.) Most of his work that I’ve followed has been in and around organic ferroelectrics. Ferroelectric materials exhibit spontaneous polarization that can be controlled by applying an external electric field. Where there’s bistability, there’s the potential to exploit a material for (nonvolatile?) memory! As one might expect, ferroelectric materials (minus polymers–polyvinylidene fluoride!–and liquid crystals) crystallize in polar space groups.
Most ferroelectrics, like BaTiO3 and lead zirconate titanate (PZT), are inorganic…but whatever. We’re an organic materials blog, so Tokura’s research on organic ferroelectrics is naturally interesting to us. (Seriously, that’s a really good review and you should read it.) I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because it’s a cool area that deserves a few posts of its own, but the field is rich in crystal structure awesomeness.[2]
I’ll admit I find Tokura’s work remarkable because of what it doesn’t involve: synthesis. If his group can do such cool things with commercially available materials, just think of the possibilities that could exist with a small army of chemists at his disposal. (MWAHAHA!)
Of course, there are a great many Japanese researchers who deserve our recognition. Eiichi Nakamura, also of the University of Tokyo, immediately springs to mind–his research is probably closer to what you’d expect to see profiled on CBC. And then there’s the god of the small shiny n-types, Yoshiro Yamashita (at Tokyo Tech). I just wanted to surprise everyone by choosing a physicist this time! There’s a dearth of physics on our site, which is very sad because condensed matter is extremely fucking sexy.
[1] I’m, um, totally referring to myself here. (Not gonna lie: if the election this year goes badly, I might want to spend a little more time abroad…)
[2] For once I didn’t nick a graphic from the paper…this one gave me an excuse to play with the new CrystalMaker. I think I kinda butchered it, though…
[∞] Know how when you Google someone sciency’s name in the US it doesn’t take much effort to get straight to their research page? It was a LOT harder to find these guys! (Although admittedly the Nakamura group was very easy…kudos to them for working the Google magic.)
Let’s not forget Takuzo Aida, too… and Yamamoto, though he’s really more into the polymer methodology (speaking of polymer methodology, Kyoko Nozaki… a female professor? in polymer chemistry? from JAPAN? she’s awesome.)
I suspect these posts will be difficult. There are WAY too many cool people out there!
But go figure I would mention the small molecule guys and you’d go for the polymers.
You guys may be interested in Prof. Kentaro Yamaguchi’s work at Chiba University on ColdSpray (electrospray near the freezing point of the solid). He uses this to study self-assembled nanostructures. There are some interesting-looking shapes like “molecular necklaces” that may be old news to nanomolecule chemists, but really got my attention as a small-molecule guy. Google “yamaguchi coldspray”. There’s a summary article on our web page because he did some of the work on JEOL mass specs:
For those in grad school who want to spend some time (8 weeks in Asia/Oceania), I should point out that the NSF has just the program for you.
East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes for U.S. Graduate Students (EAPSI)
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08603/nsf08603.htm?govDel=USNSF_25
Deadline is December 2008
Just don’t compete with my students ok.
My personal favourite Japanese professor would be the Kurosawa/Murahashi group, but I understand that Japanese lab dynamics are quite different to the US/Australian version.
Japanese labs are hierarchal. There really is not the Us career ladder of independence throughout. An associate or assistant professor often is a senior researcher or a team leader within a senior professor’s group.
That is what I though, and which I sometimes see in the US.
“Giant Professor” who delegates to a “sub-Professor” who runs the post-docs who run the grad students and so on down the hill.
Hehe this reminds me one institute in Prague – They sold three drugs to Gilead and now the intitute is aflush with funds as a result so it was a success – but lots of people ended up conscripted into this project and I know a guy who used to be the best synthetic chemist working for the said superprofessor and run away
I’d LOVE to apply for that! Sadly, I won’t be in grad school until next year.
Anything out there for those of us that aren’t US citizens?…..I come across very few fellowships for us international folks.
If you are a Czech organic chemist you can apply for Bader Fellowship, It sponsors grad students at Columbia and Harvard (I think you can do Stanford also). You stil have to apply and get admited to these schools like everybody else, but having your own money for the first 3 years greatly helps with the admission process.
Somebody has been very, ah, creative with drawing bonds for those ortho-quinoids’ halogens. When pharma ran out of QSR it desperately tap danced with combinatorics. When synthesis ran out of discrete structures it took a hint from (those frauds in) biochemistry and did frameworks. Now, having exhausted singlet closed shells, we diddle with multiplet spin open shells. Things are finally getting interesting.
Speaking of good chemistry in the middle of nowhere…MARK WATSON AT ILLINOIS THURSDAY OMGZ CAN’T WAIT!