Background

Ethnicity: Since his ancestors’ many generations ago, Tabata’s family has belonged to the ethnic group of Japan within East Asians.

Tatsuo Tabata was born on April 17, 1935, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, as the third son of Kunika and Chiyoko (Kawamura) Tabata. Both parents were teachers, so Tatsuo grew up in an educational environment and liked reading books from childhood.

Education

Tabata entered Nanao Misogi Elementary School in Ishikawa, Japan, in 1942. He moved to Dalian Reizen Elementary School in Kwantung Leased Territory of Japan in 1944. He finally attended Kanazawa Ishibiki Elementary School in Ishikawa, Japan, to finish elementary school there in 1948.

He finished Kanazawa Shikindai Junior High School in Ishikawa, Japan, in 1951. Then he finished Kanazawa Kindai Senior High School (presently Kanazawa Commercial High School) in Ishikawa, Japan, in 1954.

After that, he began to study science at Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, getting the degree of Bachelor of Science in 1958. He continued his study at the Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, to become a Master of Science in 1960. He got the degree of Doctor of Science from Kyoto University by submitting the paper "Backscattering of electrons from 3.2 to 14 MeV" in 1967.

Career

Just after getting the degree of Master of Science by studying experimental nuclear physics, Tabata began to work at the Radiation Center of Osaka Prefecture (RCOP), Sakai, Osaka, Japan, in 1960, mainly in the field of radiation physics. He continued working there until 1990.

In 1990, RCOP became Research Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Osaka Prefecture University, and Tabata became a professor there. In 1999, he retired and became an emeritus professor.

After his official retirement, he established two virtual institutes of his own, the Institute of Data Evaluation and Analysis (IDEA) and the Institute of Scientific And Artistic Cultures (ISAAC), and published many digital technical reports there.

He was a cooperative researcher at the Institute of Plasma Physics, Nagoya University, 1981-1983, a part-time researcher at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (presently Japan Atomic Energy Agency), Ibaraki, Japan, 1984-1999, and a consultant at Osaka Nuclear Science Association, Osaka, Japan, 2000-2016.

In 2019, he got the title of Emeritus Academician-secretary of the department of Japan, International Mariinskaya Akademy, named after M. D. Shapovalenko.

He served on the following inter-institution committees:

• Committee membership starting 1980-1985

Plasma-Wall Interaction Working Committee, Planning and Information Center, Institute of Plasma Physics, Nagoya University, 1980-1988; Research Promotion Committee on Surface/Interface Control Technology for Developing High-Performance Materials, Science and Technology Agency, 1984-1986; Atomic and Molecular Data Research Committee, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1984-1999; Low-Energy Electron Beam Dose Measurement Committee, Radiation Application Development Association, 1985-1988; Social Functions Committee, Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, 1985-1993

• Committee membership starting 1987-1989

Research Committee for the Application of Ion Engineering, Osaka Science and Technology Center, 1987-1988; Organizing Committee for the Conference on Radiation Curing Asia, 1988-1989; Research Committee for Re-evaluation of Irradiation Effects, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1988-1992; Organizing Committee for RadTech Asia '91, RadTech Research Association, 1989-1991; Executive Committee for RadTech Asia '91, RadTech Research Association, 1989-1991

• Committee membership starting 1991-1996

Research Committee for High-Dose Measurement, Radiation Application Development Association, 1991-1996; Organizing Committee for RadTech Asia '93, RadTech Research Association, 1992-1993; Research Committee for New Radiation Application Research, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1992-1996; and Research Committee for Radiation Micro Dynamics, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 1996-1998.

Achievements

• 

  Tabata has appeared as a noteworthy physicist and researcher in "Marquis Who's Who."
  
  He was awarded Takamine Prize in 1953 as one of the best and most promising senior high school students in chemistry in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, by the Doctor Jokichi Takamine Memorial Association.
  
  He contributed over 90 refereed articles to more than 20 professional journals in computers, physics, applied physics, medical physics, nuclear engineering, biology, and psychology.
  
  Among his research works, the two sets of experimental results on the electron backscattering coefficient and the electron charge deposition distribution, both published in the prestigious journal "The Physical Review," were beautiful and revealed gross and minor errors, respectively, in other authors' results.
  
  He and his coworkers also made many semiempirical equations on the passage of electrons through matter in bulk, the backscattering of light ions from solids, and atomic and molecular collisions.
  
  He and his scientific papers got the following records (shown here those of the ranks 5th or higher only; as of Feb 10, 2023):
  
  1st most cited author in Nuclear Instruments & Methods (1971),
  
  1st most cited author in Nuclear Instruments & Methods (1972),
  
  1st most cited author in Nuclear Science and Engineering (1974),
  
  1st most cited paper in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables (1987),
  
  1st most cited paper in Nuclear Instruments & Methods (1971),
  
  1st most cited paper in Nuclear Instruments & Methods (1972),
  
  1st most cited paper in Nuclear Science and Engineering (1974),
  
  2nd most published author in Nuclear Instruments & Methods (Lifetime),
  
  2nd most published author in Journal of the Physical Society of Japan (1960),
  
  3rd most cited author in Nuclear Instruments & Methods (Lifetime), and
  
  5th most cited paper in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables (2000).
  
  [Quoted from the page https://exaly.com/author/4517517/tatsuo-tabata/journal-rankings at the Exaly site]

Works

More photos

• books

  • Selected papers of Tatsuo Tabata and his coworkers. Vols. 1-2, edited with commentaries by T. Tabata (Division of Radiation Physics, Research Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Osaka Prefecture University, Sakai, 1998) National Diet Library, Japan, Record ID No. 000008212840

    (These volumes contain 90 papers selected from Tabata's pu...)

    1998
  • Passage through Spacetime: Random Writings of a Physicist

    (Self-published with coordination by Jupiter, Tokyo, 2009....)

    2009

• book sections

  • Brush Up Your English for Science, edited by Shin-ichi Hyodo (Shokabo, Tokyo, 1989) (in Japanese)

    (Tabata wrote a section, "Reading Science Popularization i...)

  • Left-Handers in Mirrors: Mirror Reversal Puzzle, by Hirokazu Yoshimura (Nakanishiya, Kyoto, 2004) (in Japanese)

    (Tabata wrote a section, "Commentary by a Physicist.")

  • Radiation Dosimetry of Electron Beams for Radiation Processing, edited by Radiation Application Development Association, Japan (Chijin-Shokan, Tokyo, 1990) (in Japanese)

    (Tabata wrote subsections from 4.1 to 4.5, 7.1, and 7.2 ab...)

• collected scientific works

  • The Collected Works of Tatsuo Tabata Vols. 1-20, Institute for Data Evaluation and Analysis Technical Reports No. 5-24 (2017-2019) digital publication available from ResearchGate and Academia.edu sites

    (These volumes contain 94 papers published by Tabata in re...)

    2019

• frequently cited papers

  • An empirical equation for the backscattering coefficient of electrons: Nuclear Instruments and Methods: Vol 94, No 3, pp. 509-513

    (Tabata and his coworkers have made an empirical equation ...)

    1971
  • Cross sections for charge transfer of hydrogen atoms and ions colliding with gaseous atoms and molecules: Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables Vol 37, No 1, pp. 69-101

    (Tabata and his coworkers have made analytic formulas for ...)

    1987
  • An Algorithm for the Energy Deposition by Fast Electrons: Nuclear Science and Engineering: Vol 53, No 2, pp. 226-239

    (Tabata and his coworker have made an algorithm for the en...)

    1974
  • Generalized semiempirical equations for the extrapolated range of electrons: Nuclear Instruments and Methods: Vol 103, No 1, pp. 85-91

    (Tabata and his coworkers have made an equation to express...)

    1972

Religion

Tabata was born into a Buddhist family, like many Japanese born before the end of World War II. However, he likes the words of Albert Einstein: I believe in Spinoza’s God. Thus, he has a similar attitude toward religion as Einstein.

Politics

Tabata was sympathetic to the movement of the “Article 9 Association,” which strived to shine the light of Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan upon the turbulent world to join hands with the peace-seeking citizens of the world. Thus, he was one of the proposers of the Sakai Article 9 Association in 2005 and the representative of the Fukuizumi-Otori Article 9 Association from 2006 to 2018.

Views

From his junior high school days, Tabata liked Ralph Waldo Emerson's words: In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him. So, he has kept the attitude of learning from any person he meets.

Quotations: "To be a stray sheep might be one of the privileges of the youth." — "Vicky: A Novella" in Tabata's book "Passage through Spacetime."

"Dr. Hideki Yukawa once wrote an essay, "Two roads into one." The two roads meant his research and the work of saving human beings from destruction. We can continue our work happily and meaningfully only in peace. Therefore, everyone needs to unite each one's two roads. For our happy work and a peaceful future of the world, let us strive together to protect Article 9 of the Constitution." — Tabata's opening remarks at "The Gathering of Citizens to Protect Article 9 of the Constitution, Sakai, Osaka" in 2007 (http://www.9-jo.jp/news/MagShousai/MMS070201.htm).

Membership

Tabata actively joined many academic and nonacademic societies and groups, as shown below:

• American Physical Society , United States

  1971 - 2018

• 

  Physical Society of Japan , Japan

  1958 - 2019

• Japan Society of Applied Physics , Japan

  1965 - 1999

• Japanese Society of Radiation Chemistry , Japan

  1992 - 1999

• Japanese Association of Radiological Physicists , Japan

  1988 - 1999

• He served on the Peer Review Committee from 1984 to 1992:

  Atomic Energy Society of Japan , Japan

  1984 - 1999

• Japanese Scientists Association , Japan

• (Nonacademic) He was a secretariat member when this association started, then one of the organizers, and finally, a general member of this association:

  Citizens' Association for Fostering the Culture of Sakai , Japan

  1974 - 2022

• (Nonacademic)

  Friends of Tuva Japan , Japan

  1994 - 1998

• (Nonacademic) He worked as one of the advisers:

  Citizens’ Group to Study Hideki Yukawa , Japan

  2006 - 2010

• (Nonacademic)

  Gakushikai (The University Graduates’ Society) , Japan

• He was a Member of the Board of Directors from 1990 to 1994:

  RadTech Research Association , Japan

  1990 - 1994

Personality

Tabata had two older brothers and one older sister, but they all died when they were young. Thus, he grew up like an only child and attached importance to friendship.

Physical Characteristics: His height (1.63 m) and weight (62 kg) are those of the average Japanese in his generation.

Quotes from others about the person

• "The author [Tatsuo Tabata] is a competent experimentalist, and the work appears to be carefully and painstakingly done." — Referee's report on Tabata's paper "Backscattering of electrons from 3.2 to 14 MeV" submitted to the journal "The Physical Review" and published in it in 1967.
  
  "Tabata-san is a living national treasure in making empirical formulas." — Yohta Nakai, who worked at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan, and published some papers with Tabata, used to say these words.
  
  "[This volume] is a valuable, scholarly, and practical resource for both the experienced researcher and the advanced student in radiation physics." — John Hubbell, Foreword in "Selected Papers of Tatsuo Tabata and His Coworkers Vol. 2." (Though referring to his book, these words reflect Tabata's attitude toward research.)
  
  In 1960, Tatsuo Tabata completed the master's course at Kyoto University's Graduate School of Science and joined the newly established Radiation Center of Osaka Prefecture (RCOP). With the cooperation of his seniors and colleagues at this institute and using a state-of-the-art linear electron accelerator, he developed measurement and monitoring methods for electron beams. He also did experiments on the interactions of electrons with matter in bulk, making many contributions to lay the groundwork for the RCOP to be called "a mecca for electron beam research." In 1967, he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree from Kyoto University for his research on the measurement of the backscattering of electrons by a unique method, with which he pointed out gross errors in the backscattering results reported by an American researcher. After that, he opened up a new field of obtaining various quantities related to the interactions between electrons and heterogeneous materials, including layered structures, using semi-empirical models. Applying the same method to ion-solid interactions and atomic and molecular collisions, he proposed many semi-empirical formulas and received high praise. In 1990, he became a professor at Research Institute Attached to Osaka Prefecture University, which they established by integrating RCOP into Osaka Prefecture University and renamed the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology in 1995. Since 1996, he has also been a professor at the university's Graduate School of Integrated Sciences and the Graduate School of Science, developing research and education there. He has actively conducted joint research with researchers in many countries, including Western countries and the United States. He published papers in many fields, such as physics, applied physics, nuclear engineering, computers, biology, and psychology. The citation frequency of these papers is high. Thus, he fully achieved the purpose of the Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, namely, "internationality and interdisciplinarity." — Quoted from "Professor Tatsuo Tabata Retirement Commemorative Project Prospectus" (1999) prepared by the Organizers of the project headed by Ryuichiro Oshima

Interests

• Watercolor painting, essay writing, singing, photography

• Philosophers & Thinkers

  Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, Shūichi Katō (Japanese critic and author)

• Politicians

  Abraham Lincoln

• Writers

  Leo Tolstoy, Natsume Sōseki

• Artists

  Paul Cézanne, Eugène Delacroix

• Sport & Clubs

  Baseball, Orix Buffaloes (Nippon Professional Baseball)

• Athletes

  Shinji Hamazaki (former Japanese baseball player and manager)

• Music & Bands

  Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven), Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)

Connections

Tatsuo Tabata married Teiko Murata on November 6, 1960, and has two children, Yuko and Yasuko.

Father:

Kunika Tabata

Kunika Tabata was born on February 16, 1900, in a village (later included in Nanao) in Ishikawa, Japan, and studied at Ishikawa Normal School, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. He worked at elementary schools in Ishikawa, Japan, from 1919 to 1921 and then at women's middle schools in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, from 1921 to 1925. Kunika was a middle school math teacher in Dalian (in the era of Japanese leasehold) and Kanazawa and Nanao, both Ishikawa, Japan, from 1927 to 1944. He died of tuberculosis on April 28, 1944, when Tatsuo was nine.

Mother:

Chiyoko (Kawamura) Tabata

Chiyoko Tabata was born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, on June 12, 1902, graduated from Ishikawa Women's Normal School, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan, in 1922, and worked as a teacher at elementary schools in Ishikawa, Japan, from 1922 to 1926. She was a teacher at Ishikawa Prefecture School for Visually Impaired, Kanazawa, Japan, from 1947 to 1962 and died on February 12, 1976.

Spouse:

Teiko (Murata) Tabata

Teiko Tabata was born in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan, on March 1, 1936, graduated from Osaka Women's University in 1958, was a part-time teacher at Shoin Higashi Junior and Senior High Schools from 1959 to 1961, and had a Kumon franchise to teach math from 1980 to 1987. She accomplished climbing all of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains in 2011.

Daughter:

Yuko (Tabata) Yoneda

Yuko was born in 1962 in Sakai, Osaka, Japan, graduated from Osaka University of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1985, married Ryuji Yoneda in 1988, and has two sons, Koji and Shinji.

Daughter:

Yasuko (Tabata) Uchimura

Yasuko was born in 1965 in Sakai, Osaka, Japan, graduated from Osaka Shoin Women's University in 1987, married Yuichi Uchimura in 1998, and has a son, Hiroki, and a daughter, Reina.

boss:

Shigeru Okabe

Shigeru Okabe (1923–2013) was born in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan, graduated from Kyoto University in 1946 and became an assistant professor at Tottori University in 1949. There he studied the method of earthquake prediction by the change in the atmospheric radon concentration. He moved to RCOP in 1959. During his early years at RCOP, Tabata worked under Okabe. For more about Okabe, see http://ideaisaac.web.fc2.com/pdfdocs4/ 2014IDEA-ISAAC0809.pdf.

Friend:

Kazumi Maki

Kazumi Maki (1936–2008) and Tabata were classmates at the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University, and good friends. Maki became a theoretical physicist known for his research in superconductivity, superfluid 3He, and quasi-one-dimensional materials and received the John Bardeen Prize. From 1974 until he died in 2008, he was a professor at the University of Southern California. For more about him, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazumi_Maki.

Friend:

Indra Jeet Das

Indra Jeet Das and Tabata worked in closely related fields and have been good friends since 1987, publishing two papers together. Das was born in a tiny village in India near the Nepal border. He emigrated to the US, earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1988), and became an internationally acclaimed medical physicist. You can see more about him at https://prabook.com/web/indra_jeet.das/318583 by clicking his name in green at the top.

colleague:

Rinsuke Ito

Rinsuke Ito (1937–2014) was born in Hagi, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan, graduated from Osaka University in 1960, and began to work at the Radiation Center of Osaka Prefecture at the same time as Tabata. Ito was excellent in mathematics and computer programing, being a long-time coworker of Tabata. While the former was enthusiastic about and busy in the movement of the laborers’ union, they published many papers together.

Former teacher; boss:

Kiichi Kimura

Kiichi Kimura (1904–1992) was born in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan, and graduated from Kyoto University in 1929. Since 1930, he worked under Bunsaku Arakatsu at Taihoku Imperial University, building the first Asian accelerator with Arakatsu in 1934. He became Professor at Kyoto University in 1945. During the postgraduate course at Kyoto University, Tabata studied under Kimura. The latter was also the first director of the Radiation Center of Osaka Prefecture (RCOP), where the former worked. For more about Kimura, see http://ideaisaac.web.fc2.com/kimura.html.

coworker:

Pedro Andreo

Pedro Andreo was an excellent coworker of Tabata’s, and they coauthored fourteen papers in refereed journals. Andreo was born in Spain, graduated from the University of Zaragoza in 1974, and obtained D.Sc. from the same university in 1982. He was finally a professor of Medical Radiation Physics at Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. He also took part in international activities at the IAEA for many years. For his scientific works, see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pedro-Andreo-2.

Friend:

Tadashi Kajita

Tadashi Kajita was born in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan, in 1935. In March 1945, an air raid destroyed his house, and he, with his family, moved to Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. He graduated from Kanazawa University and worked as a math teacher and a schoolmaster at senior high schools in Kobe. He and Tabata have been bosom friends since the first day at their junior high school; this friendship is the longest among Tabata’s.

classmate:

Haruko Iwasaki

Haruko Iwasaki and Tabata were classmates at Kanazawa Ishibiki Elementary School in Ishikawa, Japan. Iwasaki graduated from Kanazawa University, Japan, moved to the US and taught at Columbia University and Princeton University. Then, she obtained a Ph.D. from Harvard University and became an associate professor there. She moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she became professor emeritus. For her works, see https://www.eastasian.ucsb.edu/people/emeritus/haruko-iwasaki/.

Friend:

Wenxiu Chen

Wenxiu Chen and Tabata have been friends since they first met at the Conference on Radiation Curing Asia held in Tokyo, Japan, in 1986. Chen graduated from the Department of Chemistry, Fuzon University, China, and started working at the Department of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, China, in 1953. She became a professor there in 1986. For more about Chen, see https://prabook.com/web/wenxiu.chen/297329 by clicking her name in green at the top.

References

• Tatsuo Tabata's publications and citations analysis at the Website Exaly Detailed scientometric analysis of Tatsuo Tabata's publications and citations, along with the in-depth linguistic studies of the article writings and scientific contributions
  2022
• ‪Tatsuo Tabata's publications and cited numbers at the Website ‪Google Scholar‬ List of Tabata's publications, including papers in non-refereed journals and technical reports together with cited numbers
  2022
• The homepage of IDEA & ISAAC: Tatsuo Tabata's virtual institutes Links to and news about Tatsuo Tabata's publications on radiation, atomic physics, etc.; blog articles from activities of IDEA & ISAAC
  2021