B. Baillaud, W. de Sitter, and F. Schlesinger, from the IAU at the General Assembly
held at Cambridge, England. For his achievements in science, he was awarded the
Order of Culture (文化勲章) by the Japanese government in 1937. He died in 1950
in Tokyo at age 85.
2.3.4 Takamine Toshio and Spectroscopy
Takamine Toshio (高嶺俊夫, 1885–1959) followed up on the works of Nagaoka in
spectroscopy, particularly the Stark effect (Fujioka 1964; De Vorkin 2002).
Takamine was born in Tokyo and was the second son of Takamine Hideo (高嶺
秀夫), a samurai of the Matsudaira clan at Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture.
In 1906, Takamine entered Tokyo Imperial University and studied physics under
Nagaoka Hantaro. One day, during a lecture on spectroscopy, Nagaoka showed one
of his solar spectra, which he himself had observed, and murmured, “Why doesn’t
anyone study the solar spectrum?” This comment excited Takamine’s mind, and he
decided to study spectroscopy at the graduate level under Nagaoka.
In 1915, Takamine was appointed associate professor at Kyoto Imperial University and worked on the Stark effect for hydrogen, helium, and other elements. The
Stark effect, which was discovered in 1913 by Johannes Stark in Germany, is the
shifting and splitting of spectral lines of atoms due to the presence of an external
electric field. In 1918, Takamine traveled to the Optical Laboratory of the
Mt. Wilson Observatory at Pasadena, California, and measured the Stark effect of
metallic lines as a laboratory astrophysicist. This work was published in the Astrophysical Journal (Takamine 1919). By then he was developing an interest in stellar
physics and started collaborating with astrophysicists in Japan (Fig. 2.10).
In 1921, Takamine returned to Tokyo and began working at Riken (理研 ¼ 理化
学研究所, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), which had been established
in 1917 but was not fully equipped with laboratory systems and buildings. This was
still true in 1921. Nagaoka served as the head of the physics section, where three
laboratories were staffed with three chief researchers, Nagaoka, Takamine, and
Nishikawa Shoji (西川正治). In his laboratory, Takamine promoted the study of
spectroscopy. In particular, he built a vacuum spectrograph, by which he measured
the line and continuum spectra in a wavelength range of 3000 to 900 Å. He thus
identified the lines of Lyman series, ionized neon, oxygen, silicon, and others
(Takamine 1941). He then became close friends with Hisose Hideo (広瀬秀雄) of
the TAO and Fujita Yosio (藤田良雄) of Tokyo University to deepen the relationship between physicists and astronomers through spectroscopy. He was a physicist
as well as a laboratory astrophysicist and a pioneer of astrophysical spectroscopy in
Japan in the 1920s and 1930s.
He died in Tokyo in 1959 at age 74.
2.3 Dawn of Astrophysics and Geophysics
29
held at Cambridge, England. For his achievements in science, he was awarded the
Order of Culture (文化勲章) by the Japanese government in 1937. He died in 1950
in Tokyo at age 85.
2.3.4 Takamine Toshio and Spectroscopy
Takamine Toshio (高嶺俊夫, 1885–1959) followed up on the works of Nagaoka in
spectroscopy, particularly the Stark effect (Fujioka 1964; De Vorkin 2002).
Takamine was born in Tokyo and was the second son of Takamine Hideo (高嶺
秀夫), a samurai of the Matsudaira clan at Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture.
In 1906, Takamine entered Tokyo Imperial University and studied physics under
Nagaoka Hantaro. One day, during a lecture on spectroscopy, Nagaoka showed one
of his solar spectra, which he himself had observed, and murmured, “Why doesn’t
anyone study the solar spectrum?” This comment excited Takamine’s mind, and he
decided to study spectroscopy at the graduate level under Nagaoka.
In 1915, Takamine was appointed associate professor at Kyoto Imperial University and worked on the Stark effect for hydrogen, helium, and other elements. The
Stark effect, which was discovered in 1913 by Johannes Stark in Germany, is the
shifting and splitting of spectral lines of atoms due to the presence of an external
electric field. In 1918, Takamine traveled to the Optical Laboratory of the
Mt. Wilson Observatory at Pasadena, California, and measured the Stark effect of
metallic lines as a laboratory astrophysicist. This work was published in the Astrophysical Journal (Takamine 1919). By then he was developing an interest in stellar
physics and started collaborating with astrophysicists in Japan (Fig. 2.10).
In 1921, Takamine returned to Tokyo and began working at Riken (理研 ¼ 理化
学研究所, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research), which had been established
in 1917 but was not fully equipped with laboratory systems and buildings. This was
still true in 1921. Nagaoka served as the head of the physics section, where three
laboratories were staffed with three chief researchers, Nagaoka, Takamine, and
Nishikawa Shoji (西川正治). In his laboratory, Takamine promoted the study of
spectroscopy. In particular, he built a vacuum spectrograph, by which he measured
the line and continuum spectra in a wavelength range of 3000 to 900 Å. He thus
identified the lines of Lyman series, ionized neon, oxygen, silicon, and others
(Takamine 1941). He then became close friends with Hisose Hideo (広瀬秀雄) of
the TAO and Fujita Yosio (藤田良雄) of Tokyo University to deepen the relationship between physicists and astronomers through spectroscopy. He was a physicist
as well as a laboratory astrophysicist and a pioneer of astrophysical spectroscopy in
Japan in the 1920s and 1930s.
He died in Tokyo in 1959 at age 74.
2.3 Dawn of Astrophysics and Geophysics
29