Japanese Math History: Jitsuro Nagura

[daniel6874]

I am interested in finding biographical information on the Japanese mathematician, Jitsuro Nagura, who published a world-famous paper in 1952 in the proceedings of the Japan Academy.
His son, Riichi Nagura, apparently taught at Himeji and Kanagawa Institutes of Technology.
If anyone has any information or a good contact for someone with information about J. Nagura I would be most appreciative.
Thank you. Daniel

 

[Grandpa Frank]

I'll be the dumb guy ...........

that asks , "Can you read Japanese?" Chances are that some of what you are looking for will be in Japanese? Also , give a few days for good answers, some of our members only get on-line on the weekends. Welcome to JREF !
Uncle Frank

 

[daniel6874]

that asks , "Can you read Japanese?" Chances are that some of what you are looking for will be in Japanese? Also , give a few days for good answers, some of our members only get on-line on the weekends. Welcome to JREF !
Uncle Frank

Uncle Frank,
No doubt you are correct. I cannot read Japanese but will gladly have any material I find translated. There are many Japanese students in Baltimore who can help me. I would even consider traveling to Japan to speak with people who have personal knowledge of this subject, and in that case I would hire a translator.
Thank you, I will be patient!
Daniel

 

[Grandpa Frank]

WOW! A tough one .

Even special search engines for mathematicians and scientist biographies show nothing? I have a Japanese friend who works for a newspaper that I will try to get help from. I'll let you know.

Uncle Frank

:?

 

[daniel6874]

Even special search engines for mathematicians and scientist biographies show nothing? I have a Japanese friend who works for a newspaper that I will try to get help from. I'll let you know.
Uncle Frank
:?

Uncle Frank, Every reference to Jitsuro Nagura I can find is either directly or indirectly a citation to his famous paper, "On the Interval Containing At Least One Prime Number." I have posted my question on some math forums that feature professional mathematicians and number-theorists. Unfortunately, no one seems to have any further information (in the United States). I have also searched some good mathematical data bases, but this was unproductive. I know that his son was born in 1938. That information was supplied by the Japan Academy, which published the 1952 paper. Thanks! Daniel

 

[thomas]

Daniel, I saw your post on the other forum. In case you get a reply from the Japanese Academy, please fill us in, too.

 

[daniel6874]

Daniel, I saw your post on the other forum. In case you get a reply from the Japanese Academy, please fill us in, too.

Hi Thomas, If you look at the bottom of the math site question, I did get an answer from the Japan Academy. There wasn't much, just that Jitsuro Nagura had a son born in 1938 ,and where the son taught. I have since written the institutions where he taught to see if they have any information on the son. Regards, Daniel

 

[Grandpa Frank]

My friend in the news business struck out ?

Her brother has a degree in Math and he could find nothing either? Seems the man is more invisible than a ninja ? Sorry.

Uncle Frank

:?

 

[Mike Cash]

Japan has yet to load everything under the rising sun to the web. Remember that it wasn't so many years ago that you could find even a fraction of the stuff you can now find on the English side of the web. We have become spoiled and take too much for granted when it comes to hunting info on the net.

 

[daniel6874]

Her brother has a degree in Math and he could find nothing either? Seems the man is more invisible than a ninja? Sorry.
Uncle Frank
:?

Wow. This is really interesting. Thank you for asking your friend. I think that his family (descendents) probably have a lot of biographical information, but finding them will be a challenge. I intend to follow this up, because this was a really great mathematician who--whatever else he did or did not do--deserves to be better known and appreciated.
Thanks again!
Daniel

---------- Post added at 18:47 ---------- Previous post was at 18:41 ----------

Japan has yet to load everything under the rising sun to the web. Remember that it wasn't so many years ago that you could find even a fraction of the stuff you can now find on the English side of the web. We have become spoiled and take too much for granted when it comes to hunting info on the net.

Mike, This is a very good point. I expect that any records would be paper. Also, I think I am not the first to wonder about the author of Nagura's paper, and perhaps there are sensitivities involved. Hopefully enough time has gone by that this subject is really the province of history. (As an aside, even in this country we have allowed much history to crumble and have been rather selective about what gets stored electronically.) Daniel

 

[Toritoribe]

Nagura Riichi was the director of 窶ｰﾃｦ窶佛凪?彖窶倪?披?ｰﾃｰﾂ静最陳､窶ｹ窶?ﾂ焦? at the time of November 2008. I can't find any informations about the laboratory on the net, though.

窶愿樞?碗窶板斃?ｪﾂ［ﾆ段ﾆ丹ﾆ停?ｰﾆ椎?ﾆ辰ﾆ蛋ﾂ］
窶啀窶唸窶啅窶啀窶扼窶ｰﾂ｡窶｢lﾂ坂?倪?板ｧ窶佚･ﾅ?wﾂ工ﾅ?w窶｢窶昶?彭窶ｹCﾂ工ﾅ?w窶ｰﾃ遺?伉ｲ窶ｹﾃ?。窶嗄窶單窶喘窶ｰF窶厖??J窶敖ｭﾅｽ窶凪?ｹﾃ??｢窶敖、窶｢Pﾋ廩ﾂ工窶ｹﾃ??佚･ﾅ?w窶ｹﾂｳﾅｽﾃｶﾂ、ﾂ神窶愿楪静ｬﾂ工窶ｰﾃ遺?佚･ﾅ?w窶ｹﾂｳﾅｽﾃｶ窶堙ｰﾅ弛窶堙?、ﾅ陳ｻﾂ催敖、窶ｰﾃｦ窶佛凪?彖窶倪?披?ｰﾃｰﾂ静最陳､窶ｹ窶?ﾂ焦?ﾂ焦?窶卍ｷﾂ。

窶彭窶ｹCﾂ・窶彭ﾅｽqﾂ・ﾂ湘ｮ窶｢ﾃｱ窶凖環信窶堙娯?堋ｽ窶堙溪?堙個工ﾅ?w窶ｰpﾅ津ｪ: 窶ｹIﾋ?嫁｡ﾂ?窶ｰﾂｮﾂ鞘?倪?弭BookWeb

 

[daniel6874]

Nagura Riichi was the director of 窶ｰﾃｦ窶佛凪?彖窶倪?披?ｰﾃｰﾂ静最陳､窶ｹ窶?ﾂ焦? at the time of November 2008. I can't find any informations about the laboratory on the net, though.
窶彭窶ｹCﾂ・窶彭ﾅｽqﾂ・ﾂ湘ｮ窶｢ﾃｱ窶凖環信窶堙娯?堋ｽ窶堙溪?堙個工ﾅ?w窶ｰpﾅ津ｪ: 窶ｹIﾋ?嫁｡ﾂ?窶ｰﾂｮﾂ鞘?倪?弭BookWeb

Thank you. The Image Transmission Analysis Lab was probably at one of the two institutions (Kanagawa, Himeji) I mentioned. I have sent letters to these schools and hopefully will hear back soon. But that is helpful because I was afraid he retired long ago. 2008 is quite recent. Thank you again. Daniel

 

[Toritoribe]

No. As in his biography I quoted, he is now(at the time of November 2008) the directer of the laboratory AFTER working at the Space Systems Division in NEC Corporation, the professor at the Himeji Institute of Technology, and the professor at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology.

 

[daniel6874]

No. As in his biography I quoted, he is now(at the time of November 2008) the directer of the laboratory AFTER working at the Space Systems Division in NEC Corporation, the professor at the Himeji Institute of Technology, and the professor at the Kanagawa Institute of Technology.

Yes I see now. And if my translation device is working correctly, he graduated from Yokahama National University in 1961 with a degree in EE? Thank you.

 

[Toritoribe]

Right.
How about to contact the publishing companies, too? His books 電気・電子・情報通信のための工学英語 and 画像伝送工学 were published by 共立出版, and ３次元画像解析 was by 昭晃堂.

 

[daniel6874]

Right.
How about to contact the publishing companies, too? His books 窶彭窶ｹCﾂ・窶彭ﾅｽqﾂ・ﾂ湘ｮ窶｢ﾃｱ窶凖環信窶堙娯?堋ｽ窶堙溪?堙個工ﾅ?w窶ｰpﾅ津ｪ and 窶ｰﾃｦ窶佛凪?彖窶倪?板工ﾅ?w were published by 窶ｹﾂ､窶板ｧﾂ出窶敕?/url], and 窶啌ﾅｽﾅｸﾅ陳ｳ窶ｰﾃｦ窶佛凪?ｰﾃｰﾂ静 was by [url=http://www.shoko-do.co.jp/profile.html]ﾂ渉ｺﾂ晃窶慊ｰ.

Will do! I got a reply from Kanagawa. They seemed perplexed by the question and simply noted that Jitsuro R. no longer works there. Thanks again for your digging. Daniel

 

[daniel6874]

Can anyone suggest a Japanese newspaper of general circulation in which I might post my request for biographical information on Jitsuro Nagura? I am willing to pay a reasonable amount for this. I contacted one agent in the US who requested $500 for two lines, which I think is too much. Thank you.

 

[Toritoribe]

list of charges of Yomiuri Shinbun
臨時物（お詫び・ご不幸広告など）広告：広告料金

The right example of the following page costs 1075800 yen($14000) for national circulation.
広告料金自動計算：読売新聞広告ガイド

list of charges of Asahi Shinbun
記事下基本料金 - @ADV

936000~1056000yen($12200~$14000) for the same size.

 

[nekojita]

Perhaps look for some of the persons who published work with 奈倉理一? (for example look for co-authors at CiNii Articles - ﾃｦ窶板･ﾃｦﾅ督ｬﾃ｣ﾂ?ｮﾃｨﾂｫ窶禿ｦ窶凪?｡ﾃ｣窶壺?凖｣ﾂ≫?｢ﾃ｣ﾂ?津｣ﾂ≫┐ - ﾃ･窶ｺﾂｽﾃｧﾂｫ窶ｹﾃｦﾆ停?ｦﾃ･ﾂ?ﾂｱﾃ･ﾂｭﾂｦﾃｧﾂ?窶敕ｧﾂｩﾂｶﾃｦ窶ｰ竄ｬ )
Universities/companies often have no idea of where people went after they left, but those who worked more closely with him may have kept in touch or have some idea.

 

[daniel6874]

list of charges of Yomiuri Shinbun
窶氾頁ｽﾅｾ窶｢ﾂｨﾂ（窶堋ｨﾋ徑窶堙堕・窶堋ｲ窶｢sﾂ幸ﾂ広ﾂ債絶?堙遺?堙?）ﾂ広ﾂ債青：ﾂ広ﾂ債絶?板ｿ窶ｹﾃ?
The right example of the following page costs 1075800 yen($14000) for national circulation.
ﾂ広ﾂ債絶?板ｿ窶ｹﾃ?ﾅｽﾂｩ窶慊ｮﾅ致ﾅｽZﾂ：窶愿??昶?楪新窶｢ﾂｷﾂ広ﾂ債脆狸ﾆ辰ﾆ檀
list of charges of Asahi Shinbun
窶ｹLﾅｽ窶凪?ｰﾂｺﾅ?ﾃｮ窶怒窶板ｿ窶ｹﾃ? - @ADV
936000~1056000yen($12200~$14000) for the same size.

If you have posted these prices correctly they are prohibitive. Thank you for the research but $14000?

---------- Post added at 20:08 ---------- Previous post was at 20:05 ----------

Perhaps look for some of the persons who published work with 窶愿樞?碗窶板斃?ｪ? (for example look for co-authors at CiNii Articles - ﾃｦ窶板･ﾃｦﾅ督ｬﾃ｣ﾂ?ｮﾃｨﾂｫ窶禿ｦ窶凪?｡ﾃ｣窶壺?凖｣ﾂ≫?｢ﾃ｣ﾂ?津｣ﾂ≫┐ - ﾃ･窶ｺﾂｽﾃｧﾂｫ窶ｹﾃｦﾆ停?ｦﾃ･ﾂ?ﾂｱﾃ･ﾂｭﾂｦﾃｧﾂ?窶敕ｧﾂｩﾂｶﾃｦ窶ｰ )
Universities/companies often have no idea of where people went after they left, but those who worked more closely with him may have kept in touch or have some idea.

This is a good idea. His contact editor at the Japan Academy passed away some time ago, but I will look at this. Thank you.

 

[Toritoribe]

If you have posted these prices correctly they are prohibitive. Thank you for the research but $14000?

Yes, fourteen thousand US dollars for the right example. Incidentally, the left one costs 2.87 million yen i.e. about $37500. Prohibitive, indeed.

 

[daniel6874]

Yes, fourteen thousand US dollars for the left example. Incidentally, the left one costs 2.87 million yen i.e. about $37500. Prohibitive, indeed.

So if you are an average Japanese and you want to sell a car or perhaps furniture, and you only need to place two lines of print, what would you do? Surely there are venues for asking everyday questions?

 

[Toritoribe]

National newspapers are not the place. I've checked today's news paper and there's no personal announcement/advertising. Used cars are usually sold to car dealers in the trade-in system in Japan, and furnitures would be sold to socondhand shops. Anyway, I wouldn't use "advertising" for that purpose.

 

[daniel6874]

There is now an article in British Society for the History of Mathematics (BSHM). It contains biographical information, a photo, and a previously unpublished note by Jitsuro Nagura. As of this date (7/1/13) it's under "current articles." The title is "Sieve of war: the legacy of Jitsuro Nagura."