History of University Award-Winning Research

Kyoto University was established in 1897 as Japan’s is one of the most respected research universities in Asia. This is testified by the accolades second imperial university. It is located in the historic conferred upon its researchers past and present. city of Kyoto, which flourished as the nation’s capital for over a thousand years until that status was transferred to Tokyo in the wake of the Meiji Fields Medal Restoration. Even after the relocation of the capital, 1970 Mathematics Heisuke Hironaka Kyoto continued to be a hub of culture and technology. 1990 Mathematics Shigefumi Mori Japan’s first elementary school and girls’ school were opened there, and it was the location of the country’s Gauss Prize first commercial hydroelectric plant and first 2006 Mathematics Kiyoshi Ito streetcars. It was within that milieu of cultural, 1949 1965 technological, and industrial advancement that Kyoto Physics Physics University was established. Sin-itiro Tomonaga Lasker Award The view through the main gates (circa 1900) 1987 Basic Medical Research During its early period, Kyoto University developed 1989 Basic Medical Research various new approaches to education and research, 1998 Basic Medical Research Yoshio Masui 2009 Basic Medical Research including small-group seminars that emphasize 2014 Basic Medical Research

interaction between students and instructors, Award-winning Research incorporating thesis submission as a graduation

requirement, and providing students with increased 1981 1987 Japan Prize freedom in selecting their study subjects as a way to Chemistry or Medicine 2004 Chemical Technology for the Environment Kenichi Honda Susumu Tonegawa enhance motivation and encourage creativity. These 2005 Information and Media Technology Makoto Nagao 2005 Cell Biology Masatoshi Takeichi innovative approaches pioneered by the University were eventually adopted as standard practices in Japanese higher education. Kyoto Prize History of Kyoto University 1995 Basic Sciences Chushiro Hayashi It was also in the early phase of its development that 1998 Basic Sciences Kiyoshi Ito Kyoto University firmly grasped the importance of 2004 Advanced Technology Alan Curtis Kay 2001 2008 2009 Advanced Technology university autonomy. Academic freedom is essential Chemistry Physics 2010 Advanced Technology Shinya Yamanaka to the scholarly quest for the truth—a goal common to Ryoji Noyori Makoto Kobayashi 2013 Basic Sciences Masatoshi Nei The University library in the Meiji period (circa 1909) all universities—and university autonomy is essential 2016 Advanced Technology Takeo Kanade in ensuring academic freedom. Kyoto University was 2016 Basic Sciences the first university in Japan to implement a structure whereby its faculty were free from external Chern Medal interference. 2018 Mathematics Masaki Kashiwara

Through its pioneering approach to education and 2008 2012 research, Kyoto University has cultivated some of Physics Physiology or Medicine Japan’s finest minds and made significant Shinya Yamanaka contributions to the advancement of scholarship and science. Numerous winners of major international awards are affiliated with the University, such as renowned physicist Hideki Yukawa, Japan’s first Copyright © Nobel Media AB 2018. Photo Alexander Mahmoud Nobel laureate. To this day, the University is known Dr. Tasuku Honjo, distinguished professor Dr. Masaki Kashiwara, professor at the throughout Japan and around the world for its unique and deputy director-general of the Kyoto Kyoto University Institute for Advanced culture of academic freedom, and for being at the 2014 2018 University Institute for Advanced Study Study (KUIAS) and Research Institute for Physics Physiology or Medicine (KUIAS), receiving the 2018 Nobel Prize Mathematical Sciences (RIMS), receiving vanguard of cutting-edge research. Students in front of the University Clock Tower (circa 1928) Isamu Akasaki Tasuku Honjo in Physiology or Medicine. the 2018 Chern Medal.

5 6