Yoshihide Kozai

Yoshihide Kozai (1 April 1928 – 5 February 2018) was a Japanese astronomer specialising in celestial mechanics. He is best known for discovering, simultaneously with Michael Lidov, the Kozai mechanism, for which he received the Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy in 1979.[1]

Yoshihide Kozai
Born	April 1, 1928 Tokyo
Died	February 5, 2018 (aged 89)
Alma mater	University of Tokyo
Known for	Kozai mechanism
Awards	Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy (1979) Brouwer Award (1989) Person of Cultural Merit (2009)
Scientific career
Institutions	National Astronomical Observatory Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

From 1988 to 1991, he was the president of the International Astronomical Union.[2]

In 1989, he received the Brouwer Award of the American Astronomical Society.[3] In 2009, he won the Decoration of Cultural Merit from the Japanese government.[4]

He died on 5 February 2018 due to liver failure.[5][6]

The asteroid 3040 Kozai is named in his honour.

References

1. Japan Academy, 61st-70th; retrieved 2011-08-15
2. IAU Information Bulletin no. 104 (PDF). June 2009.
3. "The DDA/AAS Brouwer Award". American Astronomical Society/Division on Dynamical Astronomy. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
4. "平成21年度　文化功労者" (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 June 2017.
5. Masahiko Hayashi (11 February 2018). [tennet:16044] 【訃報】古在由秀先生 (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 February 2018.
6. 訃報 古在由秀さん８９歳＝国立天文台初代台長 (in Japanese). The Mainichi Newspapers. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 12 February 2018.

External links

• AIP Oral Histories - An Interview with Yoshihide Kozai