physics

Kunioki Mima

Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima rather than just read about it. In short: Kunioki Mima (三間圀興, Mima Kunioki; 17 August 1945 – 5 January 2025) was a Japanese plasma physicist. He is known for his contributions to the theory of turbulent transport in plasmas, and in particular the derivation of the Hasegawa–Mima equation in 1977, which won him the 2011 Hannes Alfvén Prize.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Kunioki Mima (三間圀興, Mima Kunioki; 17 August 1945 – 5 January 2025) was a Japanese plasma physicist. He is known for his contributions to the theory of turbulent transport in plasmas, and in particular the derivation of the Hasegawa–Mima equation in 1977, which won him the 2011 Hannes Alfvén Prize.

Life and career Mima studied physics at Kyoto University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1968 and a PhD in 1973. He was a post-doctoral student at Hiroshima University until 1975 and then started work at Osaka University, where he became an assistant professor in 1978 and a professor in 1984. From 1995 to 1999, he was director of the Institute of Laser Engineering. There, his work involved laser fusion (experiments with the Gekko XII laser and FIREX program), free electron lasers, relativistic plasmas and laser-plasma interaction. Mima died on 5 January 2025, at the age of 79.

Honors and awards Mima was a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Member of the Physical Society of Japan and the Japan Society of Plasma Science at Nuclear Fusion Research. He was a co-recipient of the 1993 John Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and won the 2007 Edward Teller Award. He was jointly awarded the 2011 Hannes Alfvén Prize (with Akira Hasegawa and Patrick H. Diamond) for "laying the foundations of modern numerical transport simulations and key contributions on self-generated zonal flows and flow shear decorrelation mechanisms which form the basis of modern turbulence in plasmas".

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Kunioki Mima

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima

In research: Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima 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: Kunioki Mima is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1945 births, 2025 deaths, Fellows of the American Physical Society, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Kunioki Mima 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Kunioki Mima” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Kunioki Mima in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kunioki Mima in simple terms?

Why does Kunioki Mima 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 Kunioki Mima?

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 Kunioki Mima.