1. Leona Esaki is a Japanese physicist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials, which led to his invention of the Esaki diode that exploits this phenomenon.
Leo Esaki's research was done when he was with Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo.
Leo Esaki has contributed in being a pioneer of the semiconductor superlattices.
Leo Esaki attended Doshisha Junior High School, then the Third Higher School.
Leo Esaki experienced the Bombing of Tokyo while at university.
Leo Esaki received his BSc and PhD in 1947 and 1959, respectively, from the University of Tokyo.
From 1947 to 1960, Leo Esaki joined Kawanishi Corporation and Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo.
Leo Esaki received a doctorate degree from UTokyo due to this breakthrough invention in 1959.
In 1973, Leo Esaki was awarded the Nobel Prize for research conducted around 1958 regarding electron tunneling in solids.
Leo Esaki became the first Nobel laureate to receive the prize from the hands of the King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Leo Esaki predicted that semiconductor superlattices will be formed to induce a differential negative-resistance effect via an artificially one-dimensional periodic structural changes in semiconductor crystals.
In 1972, Leo Esaki realized his concept of superlattices in III-V group semiconductors, later the concept influenced many fields like metals, and magnetic materials.
Leo Esaki was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the engineering of semiconductor devices in 1977.
Leo Esaki is the recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence, the Order of Culture and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.