physics

Ichiji Tasaki

Ichiji Tasaki is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ichiji Tasaki rather than just read about it. In short: Ichiji Tasaki (田崎一二, Tasaki Ichiji; October 10, 1910 – January 4, 2009) was a Japanese-born American biophysicist and physician involved in research relating to the electrical impulses in the nervous system. Tasaki is credited with discovering the insulating function of the myelin sheath.

Key takeaways

Ichiji Tasaki belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ichiji Tasaki to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ichiji Tasaki from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Ichiji Tasaki (田崎一二, Tasaki Ichiji; October 10, 1910 – January 4, 2009) was a Japanese-born American biophysicist and physician involved in research relating to the electrical impulses in the nervous system. Tasaki is credited with discovering the insulating function of the myelin sheath. His discoveries provided the foundation for a better understanding of diseases such as multiple sclerosis, in which myelin is lost or damaged.

Early life and education In 1910, Tasaki was born in Japan. Here and at the urging of his mother, he attended medical school, from which he received his M.D. in 1938. Rather than practising medicine, however, Tasaki decided to pursue his first love; biophysics.

Career While in Japan, he studied vertebrate nerve fibers and discovered the insulating function of the myelin sheath, a material that speeds the conduction of nerve impulses. He also was the first to show that electrical impulses traveling along myelinated nerve cells actually "jump" between the breaks in the myelin wrapping, called nodes of Ranvier. This process, termed saltatory conduction, is featured in a majority of physiology textbooks.

After World War II, Tasaki's research took him to England and to Switzerland, where he further studied the properties of nerve fibers. In 1951, he came to the United States to work at Washington University in St. Louis. While there, Tasaki and his colleagues demonstrated how vibrations that occur in the cochlea in response to sound are translated into electrical signals that the brain can interpret. This effort led to the development of the field of audiology, indirectly providing the basis for diagnosing and treating many hearing disorders.

Research interests Tasaki began his career at the National Institutes of Health in 1953, at NINDS, then called the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Blindness. In 1957, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. Later, he moved to the NIMH, where he was a lab chief for 22 years. At the time of his death, he was on detail to the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Since coming to NIH, Tasaki studied the physical and chemical processes that occur in nerve membranes.

References This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Further reading Principal Investigator Ichiji Tasaki at the National Institutes of Health Biophysicist Tasaki Leaves Extraordinary Scientific Legacy

Illustrations

Ichiji Tasaki: Dr. Ichiji Tasaki with his late wife and collaborator, Nobuko. — Dr. Ichiji Tasaki with his late wife and collaborator, Nobuko.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ichiji Tasaki

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ichiji Tasaki claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ichiji Tasaki before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ichiji Tasaki ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ichiji Tasaki

In research: Ichiji Tasaki appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ichiji Tasaki in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ichiji Tasaki is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1910 births, 2009 deaths, 20th-century American physicists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ichiji Tasaki outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ichiji Tasaki in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ichiji Tasaki means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ichiji Tasaki out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ichiji Tasaki in simple terms?

Why does Ichiji Tasaki matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ichiji Tasaki?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ichiji Tasaki.