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Kenichi Fukui

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kenichi Fukui
BornOctober 4, 1918
DiedJanuary 9, 1998 (aged 79)
Kyoto, Japan
NationalityJapan
Known fororbitals in chemical reactions
AwardsNobel Prize in Chemistry in 1981
Scientific career
Fieldschemistry
InstitutionsKyoto University

In this Japanese name, the family name is Fukui.

Kenichi Fukui[1] (October 4, 1918–January 9, 1998) was a Japanese chemist. He won the 1981 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[2]

Early life

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Fukui was the oldest of three sons of Ryokichi Fukui, who was a merchant. He was born in Nara, Japan.[2]

He graduated from Kyoto Imperial University in 1941.[2]

Fukui worked at the Army Fuel Laboratory of Japan during World War II.{[2]

Kenichi Fukui Monument at Kyoto University

In 1943, he was appointed a lecturer in fuel chemistry at Kyoto Imperial University.[2]

He was professor of physical chemistry at Kyoto University from 1951 to 1982.[source?]

He was president of the Kyoto Institute of Technology between 1982 and 1988.[2]

Fukui shared the 1981 Nobel Prize with Roald Hoffmann. Fukui and Hoffmann worked separately on the mechanisms of chemical reactions. Fukui explained in his Nobel lecture that,

"It is only after the remarkable appearance of the brilliant work by Woodward and Hoffmann that I have become fully aware that not only the density distribution but also the nodal property of the particular orbitals have significance in such a wide variety of chemical reactions."[3]
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References

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  1. Kenichi Fukui (福井 謙一, Fukui Ken'ichi)
  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 NobelPrize.org, "Kenichi Fukui" Archived 2006-08-13 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-9-17.
  3. NobelPrize.org, "Nobel Lecture"; retrieved 2012-9-17.