In Memory of Professor Tamotsu Kondow Great pioneer and ambassador in nano-material science

摘要

Tamotsu Kondow passed away on May 25th, 2009 at the age of 72. This foreword is the homage to Tamosu Kondow for his great achievements in science and international collaboration. Tamotsu Kondow was born on November 19, 1936 in the present Korean region. He gained his Ph.D. degree in 1967 at the University of Tokyo under the supervision of Professor Hiroo Inokuchi where he spent 30 years at the University of Tokyo devoting his life to the development of the unprecedented field of physical chemistry. In 1997 he retired from his post as a professor of the department of chemistry and soon after, was invited to join the Toyota Technological Institute as director of the Cluster Research Laboratory, retaining high research activity until his decease. He published over 300 papers in well established journals such as Journal of Physical Chemistry, Journal of Chemical Physics and Physical Review Letters. Tamotsu Kondow was highly regarded as a pioneer in the chemistry of clusters, elucidating the size-dependence of their electronic structures and chemical reactivity. Among his brilliant achievements, two examples of cluster research conducted by Tamotsu Kondow and his collaborators will be briefly described.