This book considers the history of modern astronomy (astrophysics) in Japan by comparing it with its counterparts in western countries. The book begins with short stories on the rise of astrophysics in Europe and America. Astrophysics essentially arose in three separate fields: astronomical spectroscopy, stellar structures, and the survey of celestial objects.
The book introduces readers to the state of astronomy in Japan back to middle of the Edo era (18th-19th centuries), when the dominant policy was one of isolation from the rest of the world. In this time, the chief task of astronomers was to make calendars. Then the scene changes to the early Meiji era (20th century), in the course of which Japanese astronomy came into contact with western cosmologies and was developed through the modernization of Japan. Following the Second World War, astrophysics progressed and eventually flourished. The book ends by highlighting Japanese contributions to international collaboration up to the early 21st century.
Readers of this book will understand how astrophysics has grown into one of the major sciences in Japan, and how the works of individual Japanese astronomers are contributing to the global advancement of knowledge of the universe.
About the Author: Kogure Tomokazu has been Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University since 1990. He obtained his Doctor of Science degree from the Department of Astronomy at Kyoto University in 1961. From 1966 to 1967 he pursued the spectroscopic study of Be stars at Paris Observatory's Meudon laboratory. In 1976, after spending 6 years as a professor of physics at Ibaraki University, he returned to Kyoto University as a professor of galactic astronomy. His research fields include: the spectroscopic study of Be stars, interstellar gas dynamics, the physics of star forming regions, and the history of astrophysics. He has written several books, such as "Interstellar Physics",1994, Goto shobo (in Japanese). "Emission Line Stars", 2002, Goto Shobo (in Japanese), "Astrophysics of Emission-Line Stars", (co-work with Kam Ching Leung),2007, Springer, and "History of Modern Astronomy - The rise of astrophysics and pioneers―", 2015, Kyoto University Press (in Japanese).
