Syun-Ichi Akasofu

Background

Syun-Ichi Akasofu was born on December 4, 1930, in Nagano-Ken, Japan, to the family of Shigenori, an English teacher, and Kumiko (nee Koike) Akasofu.

Education

Akasofu was interested in nature and the Earth sciences since childhood. Although he wanted to quit school during World War II to help support his family, his mother made him complete his education.

As a teenager Akasofu was more enamored with mountain climbing than academics, and he took a job in an observatory in order to earn money to pursue his hobby. The job, however, was to record changes caused by the aurora in the Earth's magnetic field.

Akasofu earned his bachelor's degree in geophysics in 1953 at Tokohu University in Sendai, Japan. "I was not very much interested in studying," Akasofu said in a reminiscence he videotaped in 2015. "My father said I graduated from the Department of Mountaineering."

Although he has been pursuing a Bachelor degree in meteorology to become a weather forecaster, the work experience led him to turn to astrophysics.

In 1958, after receiving his Master degree, Akasofu wrote to the world-famous space scientist Sydney Chapman with some questions. To his surprise, Chapman not only responded but invited him to study for a doctorate degree at the Geophysical Institute in Fairbanks. The Geophysical Institute even sent Akasofu the airfare.

Syun-Ichi Akasofu earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in geophysics in 1961. Within the framework of his Doctor of Philosophy thesis he studied the aurora. His scientific adviser was Sydney Chapman.

Career

A world-renowned expert on the aurora borealis, Syun-Ichi Akasofu has studied the northern lights since 1958 when he came to the University of Alaska as a graduate student. Early in his career Akasofu questioned many scientific beliefs about the aurora and went on to disprove these beliefs while making several major discoveries concerning geomagnetic storms, the Aurora’s power source, and the shape of the Auroral ring. He has written numerous articles and several books about the aurora.

Akasofu coauthored the 1965 book Auroral Morphology as Shown by All-Sky Photographs, with D.S. Kimball, and Polar and Magnetospheric Substorms, which was published in 1968. Akasofu also collaborated with his mentor Chapman on Solar-Terrestrial Physics: An Account of the Wave and Particle Radiations from the Quiet and the Active Sun, and of the Consequent Terrestrial Phenomena. However, Chapman died before the book was published. George L. Siscoe in his review in Science called the book “effectively a handbook on all topics associated with the relations between the sun and the earth.” He also noted that the book is “a valuable, authoritative, and permanent reference on the subject of solar-terrestrial relations.”

Although Akasofu’s early books were highly technical in nature and meant for experts in his field, his 1979 book Aurora Borealis: The Amazing Northern Lights, provides a more easily understandable overview of the aurora, from early legends and beliefs to research into the aurora’s many mysteries, including what causes the aurora and how it works. Critics praised the book for its readability, pages of color photographs, and easily understandable diagrams. In American Notes and Queries, a reviewer noted that in a comparison with other books, articles, and encyclopedias, none were found to be “as satisfactorily informative or interesting” as Akasofu's book.

Akasofu’s Exploring the Secrets of the Aurora, published in 2002, is primarily a historical account of the field for graduate students and scientists. Vividly illustrated with color photographs, the book includes discussions of indigenous cultural legends concerning the northern lights as well as modern science’s understanding of the aurora. “This book, which is based on my own experiences as a scientist,” said the author on the Kluwer Academic Publishers Website, “describes the history of the progress made in auroral science and magnetospheric physics by providing examples of ideas, controversies, struggles, acceptance, and success in some instances.”

Akasofu, who spent most of his career at the University of Alaska and became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1986, became director of the University’s International Arctic Research Center when it opened in 1999. Akasofu first had the idea for the Institute in 1989 as a center where international students could come and work with students and scientists from around the world. Over the next decade, he worked tirelessly to raise $30 million for the center, enlisting the aid of notables such as then-Vice President A1 Gore.

As for the field of geophysics and study of the aurora, Akasofu wants new researchers to come forward and disprove or expand upon many of his own theories. "My job now is to try to help young Turks," Akasofu told Wohlforth. The profile also noted that Akasofu once wrote, “Do not forget that nature is infinitely complicated. Never have an illusion that one will ever have a complete understanding of it.”

As director of the Geophysical Institute, Dr. Akasofu concentrated his effort on establishing the institute as a key research center in the Arctic. He also played a critical role in the establishment of the Alaska Volcano Observatory and the modernization of the Poker Flat Research Range. As director of the International Arctic Research Center, he supported an international project of the Arctic Ocean.

Syun-Ichi Akasofu retired in 2007.

Achievements

• Syun-Ichi Akasofu has been the director of the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks since its establishment in 1998 until January 2007. He has been professor of geophysics since 1964.
  
  Akasofu has published more than 550 professional journal articles, authored and co-authored 10 books and has been the invited author of many encyclopedia articles. He has collaborated with numerous colleagues nationally and internationally and has guided nine students to their Doctor of Philosophy degrees.
  
  The scientist was the first to postulate the theory that the aurora moves from North to South because its activity was oval-shaped, thus going against the prevailing theory that the aurora appeared to move North to S.
  
  He also postulated the theory that the aurora was stable and only appeared to change in the night because of the rotation of the Earth.
  
  “That’s one of the three or four major discoveries in the field,” Neil Davis, a former colleague, told Charles P. Wohlforth in an Anchorage Daily News story.
  
  Upon his retirement in 2007, the University of Alaska Board of Regents officially named the building that houses the International Arctic Research Center the "Syun-Ichi Akasofu Building" in recognition of "his tireless vision and dedicated service to the university, the state, and country in advancing arctic science."

Works

More photos

• book

  • Exploring the Secrets of the Aurora

    (In this book, Akasofu fully describes his experiences in ...)

    2002
  • The Northern Lights: Secrets of the Aurora Borealis

    (Dr. Akasofu explains the solar-driven electromagnetic for...)

    2002
  • Solar Terrestrial Physics 1972
  • Polar and Magnetospheric Substorms 1968

Views

Akasofu developed a theory - later confirmed with satellite pictures in 1982 - that the aurora moves from North to South because its activity was oval-shaped, thus going against the prevailing theory that the aurora appeared to move north to South because Fairbanks was situated on the Southern side of the auroral zone.

Akasofu also countered the theory that the aurora was stable and only appeared to change in the night because of the rotation of the Earth when he developed the concept that auroral substorms, or activities within an auroral storm, actually did cause the aurora to change.

Membership

• 

  American Association for the Advancement of Science , United States

• 

  American Geophysics Union , United States

• Society of Terrestrial Magnetism and Electricity of Japan, Sigma XI , Japan

Personality

Akasofu is known as a tireless worker. According to Wohlforth, "Akasofu attributes his own success to being too naïve to know what questions he wasn't supposed to ask, and the optimism and persistence not to give up when he thought he was right."

Quotes from others about the person

• Glen Shaw: "Most of us run on food. Syun works on nuclear fuel."

Connections

Akasofu has been married to Emiko Endo since September 1961, and has two children: Ken Ichi, Keiko.

Father:

Shigenori Akasofu

Mother:

Kumiko Akasofu

Wife:

Emiko Endo

Son:

Ken Ichi Akasofu

Daughter:

Keiko Akasofu

colleague:

Sydney Chapman

Sydney Chapman was Akasofu's scientific adviser.