Report on the JSPS Award for Eminent Scientists FY2010

1. Host Researcher
   

   Name:

   Professor Dr. Hiroshi Moriyama Department of Chemistry, Toho University



2. Invited eminent scientist (name, title and affiliation, nationality)

   Professor Dr. Richard R. Ernst
   (Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry 1991)
   
   Emeritus Professor of Laboratorium für Physicalische Chemie
   Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
   Switzerland



3. Duration of the stay
   
   

   First visit: from March 9 to March 17 (9 days)




4. 4. Schedule during the stay (date, research activities, name of the places to visit, and description of the visits )
   
   

   Year/Month/Day	Visiting place/Contents
   March 9	Flew from Delhi (India) to Tokyo (Narita) International Airport JSPS HOPE meeting (see: http://www.hopemeetings.jp/2011/index.html)
   March 10	Afternoon (13:30–15:00) : JSPS HOPE meeting:  Group discussion
   March 11	Morning ( 9:00–10:00): JSPS HOPE meeting: presented a lecture ‘My Pathway into Science and Beyond’
   March 12	Lecture scheduled for high school students at Toho University ‘My Pathway into Science and Beyond’ Unfortunately, we had to cancel this lecture because of the huge earthquake on March 11th (no transportation was available).
   March 13	Travelled to Nagoya by Shinkansen (bullet train). Visited the Tokugawa Museum.
   March 14	Visited the headquarters of Nagoya University and the Structural Biology Center. (Prof. Hisanori Shinohara)　　　 Presented a lecture at Nagoya University ; ‘NMR and its Nobel Glory’
   March 15	Presented a lecture at NIPS International Workshop in Nagoya entitled ‘International Symposium on Encounter and Leaps in Science’ (Prof. Kuniaki Nagayama)    ‘Skhavati, an Ancient Buryat Painting Analysis by Raman Spectroscopy’
   March 16	Travelled to Kinki University (by Shi-kansen and by limited express from Nagoya to Kinokawa city in Wakayama Prefecture) Visited the High Pressure Protein Research Center (Prof. Kazuyuki Akasaka) at Kinki University and presented a lecture ‘Fascinating Insights in Chemistry, Biology, and Medicine by NMR’.
   March 17	Morning: flew to Zürich via Frankfurt from Kansai International Airport.




5. Description of and results from the invitation

   Prof. Ernst visited Japan for the second time during March 9–17, 2011.  At the JSPS HOPE meeting, the group discussion, held on the afternoon of March 10th, was particularly fruitful.  The small number of participants prepared their own questions in advance.  These were wide-ranging, for example:  ‘What the research for you?’, ‘In your academic career, what is the most important thing?’. Dr. Kosei E. Yamaguchi of Toho University chaired this session as mentor and Prof. Ernst answered these questions sincerely.  On the following day, he gave a plenary lecture at the HOPE meeting ’My Pathway into Science and Beyond’.
     During his visit there was one day (March 12th) available for presenting a lecture to young high school students of Toho University, But unfortunately, it had to be canceled due to the huge March 11th earthquake (when all transportation was stopped).  Other lecture programs nonetheless proceeded as planned. On March 14th  he gave a lecture on ‘NMR and its Nobel Glory’ at Nagoya University and the NIPS International Symposium ‘International Symposium on Encounter and Leaps in Science‘ organized by Prof. Kuniaki Nagayama took place on March 15th  Lecture title of Prof. Ernst was ’Skhavati, an Ancient Buryat Painting Analysis by Raman Spectroscopy’  On March 16th afternoon Prof. Ernst visited High-pressure Protein Research Center (Prof. Kazuyuki Akasaka) at Kinki University and gave a lecture on ’Fascinating Insights in Chemistry, Biology, and Medicine by NMR’.
     All Prof. Ernst’s lectures were full of humor and all audiences were very impressed by their content.

6. Contributions to the Host Institute
     We planned for Prof. Ernst to lecture to high school students on March 12th.
     Unfortunately, because of the huge earthquake on March 11th, we had to cancel the lecture.
     We are expecting Prof. Ernst to have a further great influence on many young Japanese scientists in FY 2011.



7. Others
   

   We appreciate the support of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for this program, which has enabled us to invite Prof. Ernst, the most important scientist in this scientific field of magnetic resonance to come to lecture in Japan.