Akira Hirose

Distinguished Researcher Award - Fall 1995

Dr. Hirose holds a BSc (1965) and MSc (1967) from Yokohama National University, Japan, and a PhD from the University of Tennessee (1969). Professor Hirose joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1977.

Dr. Hirose is an internationally recognized plasma physicist who leads a program fusion research in the University's Tokamak facility. The Tokamak is a machine designed to attempt to harness fusion as a source of energy. Such machines are difficult to construct and operate as they are plagued by instabilities and it is very difficult to raise the temperatures and densities of the fuel gases to required values. Dr. Hirose's theoretical investigations and pioneering experimentation work with the University's Tokamak reactors have led to breakthroughs in their design and construction. His 1990 theory for the anomalous electron conductivity in Tokamaks and his prediction of the existence of two new instabilities in the Tokamak magnetic geometry explain the anomalous transport phenomena found in these machines, provide the foundation for understanding what is going on, and is a major step in overcoming the problems of fusion. Dr. Hirose designed and installed a special neutral beam injector for our Tokamak which increases the temperature of the plasma within the machine to values where fusion takes place. Such innovative research has impressed leading scientists from universities in the Netherlands, Japan, the United States and Canada as well as Quebec Hydro, the US Department of Energy, and Canada's National Fusion program who have invited Dr. Hirose to collaborate in their research programs. Professor Hirose's outstanding contributions to the understanding of turbulent heating in plasmas might lead to the exclusive goal of economically feasible fusion energy.

His research contributions include over 120 papers published in refereed physics journals, authorship of two books (Plasma Physics and Introduction to Wave Phenomena), and Associate Editor of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) "Transactions on Plasma Science," a prestigious international publication, since 1984.

In recognition of his research achievements and expertise in plasma physics, Dr. Hirose is the only Physics Department member elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (1981) and one of four University faculty elected Fellow of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (1986). His 1993 Merit Award from the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society of IEEE and his 1994 earned D.Sc. from this University, demonstrate the breadth of his achievement as an experimental and theoretical physicist.