8) Esaki Diode is not in the mainstream (?)
Picture A: Photo of the round-table talk held in the summer of 1968 between
Noboru Takagi, Reona Esaki
and Tetsuji Imai
Picture B: Article of talk between Esaki and Masaharu Aoki, Professor of the University of Tokyo
in the "Denshi Zairyo" magazine published in October, 1973. (click to enlarge)
My association with Esaki has already been more than forty
years. The first contact with him was when I organized the round-table talk
for newly founded "Denshi Zairyo" magazine, between Esaki and Noboru
Takagi, Director, Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (ISAS), the
University of Tokyo in the summer of 1968. At that time, Esaki returns to
Japan from US once in every 2 years.
Therefore, he was very busy when he is in Japan. Finally, I could reserve
his time in the early morning of his return day to US, in one room of the
Imperial Hotel.
After that, I had round-table talk and interview with Esaki for 3 times. One
of them was held coincidentally just before he obtained Nobel Prize at the
end of August, 1973. The talk was between Esaki and his close friend, Masaharu
Aoki, Professor. the University of Tokyo, who specialized in Semiconductor
Physics. During this talk, Esaki told me that "Japan’s semiconductor
industry is catching up US, but there is no research achievement which Japan
took initiative", so I told him “There is Esaki Diode”. But he replied
"Esaki Diode is not in the real main stream".
Two months after this talk, he obtained the glorious Nobel Prize! As Bernard
Shaw mentioned "You never can tell".