Syun-Ichi Akasofu

Syun-Ichi Akasofu
Akasofu (left), with then-U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (center), Katey Walter (second from right), Larry Hinzman (back left), Tohru Saito (back right) in 2008
Born (1930-12-04) December 4, 1930 (age 93)
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materTohoku University, Sendai, Japan (B.A., 1953; M.S., 1957), University of Alaska Fairbanks (Ph.D., 1961)
Known forSpace physics, Aurora research
AwardsChapman Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, Fellow of the AGU, John Adam Fleming Medal of the AGU, Edith R. Bullock Prize for Excellence of the University of Alaska, and Order of the Sacred Treasures, Gold and Silver Stars by the Emperor of Japan
Scientific career
FieldsGeophysics
InstitutionsUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks
ThesisA study of magnetic storms and auroras (1961)
Doctoral advisorSydney Chapman

Syun-Ichi Akasofu (赤祖父 俊一, Akasofu Shun'ichi, born December 4, 1930, Saku, Nagano, Japan) is the founding director of the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), serving in that position from the center's establishment in 1998 until January 2007. Previously he had been director of the university's Geophysical Institute from 1986.