Dr. Toshihide Maskawa was a preeminent Japanese theoretical physicist, born on February 7, 1940, in Nagoya, Japan, who made fundamental contributions to the understanding of particle physics until his passing on July 23, 2021, in Kyoto, Japan. He earned his PhD in particle physics from Nagoya University in 1967, where he developed a strong foundation in quantum field theory under Professor Shoichi Sakata. Maskawa held distinguished academic positions at Kyoto University, University of Tokyo, and Nagoya University throughout his illustrious career. His most influential scientific period began in the early 1970s when he joined Kyoto University and commenced his landmark collaboration with Makoto Kobayashi that would revolutionize the Standard Model of particle physics.
Dr. Maskawa's seminal contribution was the Kobayashi-Maskawa theory developed in 1973, which provided the mathematical explanation for CP-violation within the Standard Model of particle physics. Their groundbreaking work predicted the existence of at least three generations of quarks, a revolutionary concept that was experimentally confirmed with the discovery of the bottom quark in 1977 and the top quark in 1995. This profound insight fundamentally transformed the understanding of symmetry breaking in fundamental particles and established the theoretical framework for modern quark physics. For this paradigm-shifting discovery, Maskawa and Kobayashi were jointly awarded half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physics, with Yoichiro Nambu receiving the other half for related work on spontaneous symmetry breaking.
Beyond his Nobel Prize-winning research, Maskawa served as Director of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics at Kyoto University from 1997 to 2003, where he nurtured generations of theoretical physicists and advanced Japan's position in fundamental research. He later established and directed the Kobayashi-Maskawa Institute for the Origin of Particles and the Universe at Nagoya University from 2010 to 2018, continuing his commitment to theoretical exploration. Maskawa's intellectual legacy extends far beyond his specific discoveries, as his mathematical approach to symmetry breaking inspired decades of subsequent research in particle physics. His work remains foundational to the Standard Model and continues to guide experimental physicists investigating the fundamental nature of matter and the universe.
