Toshihide Maskawa
Facts
© The Nobel Foundation Photo: U. Montan
Toshihide Maskawa
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2008
Born: 7 February 1940, Nagoya, Japan
Died: 23 July 2021, Kyoto, Japan
Affiliation at the time of the award: Kyoto Sangyo University, Kyoto, Japan; Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics (YITP), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Prize motivation: “for the discovery of the origin of the broken symmetry which predicts the existence of at least three families of quarks in nature”
Prize share: 1/4
Life
Toshihide Maskawa was born in Nagoya, Japan. His parents made a living as traders, selling mainly sugar. Maskawa chose a different path in life and was accepted to Nagoya University. He earned his PhD in particle physics in 1967 from the same university. Maskawa carried out his Nobel Prize-awarded work at Kyoto University. Since that time, he has been affiliated with both Nagoya and Kyoto universities. Toshihide Maskawa was married with two sons.
Work
Physicists long assumed that nature is characterized by symmetry. In a kind of mirrored world where right and left changed places and matter was exchanged for antimatter, natural laws would stand. After it was discovered that the decay of certain particles (kaons) was asymmetrical, a mathematics-based explanation for this was presented by Toshihide Maskawa and Makoto Kobayashi in 1972. The explanation meant that there must be at least three families of quarks that form matter. This theory was later verified.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
