physics

Sumio Iijima

Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima rather than just read about it. In short: Sumio Iijima (飯島澄男, Iijima Sumio; born 2 May 1939) is a Japanese physicist and inventor, often cited for his discovery of carbon nanotubes. Although carbon nanotubes had been observed prior to his "invention", Iijima's 1991 paper generated unprecedented interest in the carbon nanostructures and has since fueled intense research in the area of nanotechnology.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Sumio Iijima (飯島澄男, Iijima Sumio; born 2 May 1939) is a Japanese physicist and inventor, often cited for his discovery of carbon nanotubes. Although carbon nanotubes had been observed prior to his "invention", Iijima's 1991 paper generated unprecedented interest in the carbon nanostructures and has since fueled intense research in the area of nanotechnology. Born in Saitama Prefecture in 1939, Iijima graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in 1963 from the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo. He received a Master's degree in 1965 and completed his Ph.D. in solid-state physics in 1968, both at Tohoku University in Sendai. Between 1970 and 1982 he performed research with crystalline materials and high-resolution electron microscopy at Arizona State University. He visited the University of Cambridge during 1979 to perform studies on carbon materials. He worked for the Research Development Corporation of Japan from 1982 to 1987, studying ultra-fine particles, after which he joined NEC Corporation where he is still employed. He discovered carbon nanotubes in 1991. When he discovered carbon nanotubes, he not only took pictures of them but he put two together and explained what they really are. Afterwards, he was credited with the discovery. He is also a University Professor at Meijo University since 1999. Furthermore, he is the Honorary AIST Fellow of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Distinguished Invited University Professor of Nagoya University. He was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics in 2002, "for the discovery and elucidation of the atomic structure and helical character of multi-wall and single-wall carbon nanotubes, which have had an enormous impact on the rapidly growing condensed matter and materials science field of nanoscale science and electronics." He is a foreign associate of National Academy of Sciences, foreign member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He is also a Member of the Japan Academy.

Research fields Nano Science, Crystallography, Electron Microscopy, Solid-State Physics, Materials Science

Professional record 1968 – 1974: Research Associate, Research Institute for Scientific Measurements, Tohoku University, Sendai 1970 – 1977: Research Associate, Department of Physics, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 1977 – 1982: Senior Research Associate, Center for Solid State Science, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 1979: Visiting Senior Scientist, Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, University of Cambridge, Cambridge 1982 – 1987: Group Leader, ERATO Program, Research Development Corporation of Japan, Nagoya 1987 – Present: Senior Research Fellow, NEC Corporation, Tsukuba (Joined NEC in 1987 as Senior Principal Researcher) 1998 – 2002: Research Director, JST/ICORP "Nanotubulites" Project Tsukuba and Nagoya 1999 – Present: University Professor, Meijo University, Nagoya 2001 – 2015: Director, Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 2005 – 2012: Dean, SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT, http://saint.skku.edu), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea. 2006 – 2009: Project Leader, NEDO “Carbon Nanotube Capacitor Development Project” 2007 – Present: Distinguished University Professor of Nagoya University, Nagoya 2008 – 2012: Distinguished Invited Chair Professor for World Class University (WCU) Program, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea. 2015 – Present: Honorary AIST Fellow, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

Academy 2007: Foreign Associate, The National Academy of Sciences 2009: Foreign Member, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. 2010: Member, The Japan Academy 2011: Foreign Fellow, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Recognition

Honors 2000: Fellow, The American Physical Society 2001: Honorary Fellowship, Royal Microscopical Society 2002: Honorary Doctor, University of Antwerp 2002: Honorary Member, The Crystallographic Society of Japan 2003: Honorary Doctor, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne(EPFL) 2004: Honorary Member, The Japanese Society of Microscopy 2005: Honorary Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong University 2005: Honorary Professor, Peking University 2007: Fellow, The Japan Society of Applied Physics 2009: Fellow, The Microscopy Society of America 2009: Honorary Member, The Chemical Society of Japan 2009: Honorary Professor, Tsinghua University 2009: Distinguished Professor, The University of Electro-Communications 2010: Honorary Professor, Zhejiang University 2010: Honorary Professor, Southeast University 2014: Honorary Doctor, Aalto University

Awards 1976: Bertram Eugene Warren Diffraction Physics Award, (The American Crystallography Society) 1985: Nishina Memorial Award, (The Nishina Memorial Foundation) 1996: Asahi Prize, (The Asahi Shinbun Cultural Foundation) 2002: Agilent EuroPhysics Prize, (European Physical Society) 2002: James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials, (American Physical Society) 2002: Benjamin Franklin Medal in Physics, (The Franklin Institute) 2002: Japan Academy Award and Imperial Award, (The Japan Academy) 2003: Person of Cultural Merit, Japan 2004: The American Carbon Society Carbon Medal, (The American Carbon Society) 2007: Gregori Aminoff Prize in crystallography 2007, (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences) 2007: Fujihara Award, (The Fujihara Foundation of Science) 2007: Balzan Prize for Nanoscience 2007 2008: The Kavli Prize Nanoscience 2008 (The Kavli Foundation) 2008: The Prince of Asturias Award for Technical Scientific Research 2008, (The Prince of Asturias Foundation) 2009: Order of Culture, Japan 2015: European Inventor Award (European Patent Office, Germany) 2016: Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist 2017: Sir C. V. Raman Visiting Professorship award for CNT (University of Madras, Chennai, India) during 6–13 March 2017. 2025: King Faisal Prize

References

External links

"About Myself" – NEC's page about Dr. Sumio Iijima "Nanotubulites" – about Dr. Sumio Iijima Nanotubes: The Materials of the 21st Century – video presentation by Sumio Iijima Arizona State University story on Kavli Prize

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Sumio Iijima

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima

In research: Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima 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: Sumio Iijima is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1939 births, Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates, Carbon scientists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Sumio Iijima in simple terms?

Why does Sumio Iijima 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 Sumio Iijima?

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 Sumio Iijima.