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Awards & Prizes

DATE2021.10.20 #Awards & Prizes

Dr. Syukuro Manabe receives 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics


Dr. Syukuro Manabe
receives Nobel Prize in Physics

We would like to extend our deepest congratulations to School of Science alumnus Dr. Syukuro Manabe for receiving the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Dr. Manabe graduated from the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Science in 1953. After receiving his doctorate in 1958 from the University of Tokyo, he moved to the United States of America to work on climate research using computer simulations at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It was the early days of computers at the time and numerical simulation of complex phenomena was just becoming possible. By making full use of this new technology, he developed the world's first general circulation model of the coupled atmosphere-ocean-land system, which showed how increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels affect global warming.

Dr. Manabe received this year's Nobel Prize in Physics "for the physical modelling of Earth's climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming." Global environmental issues have become a major challenge for society, highlighting the importance of his pioneering work on developing climate models.

An active mentor to the next generation of researchers, Dr. Manabe has served in positions such as a director of the Global Warming Research Program at the Frontier Research System for Global Change, a joint project between the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), and now as a senior meteorologist at Princeton University.

Our most sincere congratulations again to our great senior alumnus on winning the Nobel Prize.

 

Prof. Masahiro Hoshino, Dean of the School of Science

 

For more information about the Nobel Prize and Dr. Manabe’s award-winning research, please visit the Nobel Foundation website.