Japanese Pioneers

Seikichi Miyagi was born in Tokyo in 1908. After graduating from the applied chemistry department at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1932, he started working for the Electrotechnical Laboratory of the Ministry of Communications and Transportation. In 1939, he went to Hitachi, Ltd. (at the Hitachi Research Laboratory). At Hitachi, he became manager of the technology department at the Mobara Factory in 1950, manager of the transistor department at the Central Research Laboratory in 1956, director of the Musashi Factory in 1960, and chief engineer of the Musashi Factory in 1964. He was awarded the Award for Engineering Standardization Projects in 1971.

Production of transistors by Hitachi was launched when the company set up a transistor department within the Central Research Laboratory in 1956. Miyagi, manager of the technology department at the Mobara Factory at the time, was appointed manager in charge. In September 1957, he went on a long business visit to RCA, one of Hitachi’s technology partners, and conducted vigorous research into the production of transistors. The Miyagi Report that he sent back to Japan during this time was so detailed an analysis as to be invaluable to those involved in manufacturing. Hitachi built a factory specifically for making transistors in 1958, and Miyagi became a top management (as director of the Musashi Factory) in 1960. He may well be the man who contributed the most to the start-up of semiconductor production by Hitachi.

In 1964, he was given the Mainichi Industrial Technology Award for achieving the industrial production of dot–mesa transistors for FM radios. Thanks to his keen interest in activities such as factory standardization, normalization, and quality control, he was given the Award for Engineering Standardization Projects by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry in 1971.