March 24, 2016 Peabody, MA -- JEOL is honored to announce that the company founders were recognized for their scientific vision and pioneering leadership at Pittcon 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. President and CEO of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Carsten Reinhardt, presented the Pittcon Heritage Award to JEOL Ltd. President Gon-emon Kurihara at a special ceremony on Sunday, March 6.
President and CEO of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Carsten Reinhardt (left), presented the Pittcon Heritage Award to JEOL Ltd. President Gon-emon Kurihara（center） at a special ceremony on Sunday, March 6.Opening remarks were presented by Pittcon 2016 President William Sharpe (right). Photo courtesy of Roy Engelbrecht.
The Pittcon Heritage Award was presented "In recognition of their scientific vision and pioneering leadership, directing the post-World War II effort in Japan to build an electron microscope and founding one of the greatest Japanese instrumentation companies."
Kenji Kazato
Kazuo Ito
DA-1
The 2016 Award recognizes Kenji Kazato (1917-2012) and Kazuo Ito (1921- ), who led a group of scientists in Japan to develop an electron microscope. In 1947 they introduced a prototype magnetic field-type electron microscope, the DA-1. In 1949 they led their team to found Japan Electron Optics Laboratory Company (JEOL), with Kazato presiding over the fledgling company. Shortly afterwards, they offered their first commercially-available Transmission Electron Microscope, the JEM-1. Building on continued success, JEOL expanded into the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and introduced the JNM-1 in 1956. JEOL then began manufacturing other types of scientific instrumentation including Electron Spin Resonance Spectrometers, and by 1966 introduced its first Scanning Electron Microscope. In 1976 JEOL's electron microscope took the world's first photomicrograph of atomic arrangement.
The Pittcon Heritage Award, jointly sponsored by the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy (Pittcon) and the Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), recognizes "outstanding individuals whose entrepreneurial careers shaped the instrumentation and laboratory supplies community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of the modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted the role of analytical chemistry in world economies."
This prestigious honor in the field of instrumentation and chemical analysis is presented annually at a special ceremony during Pittcon, the largest and most important forum for laboratory science and chemical analysis in the world. The recipient’s name and achievements are added to a roster of Pittcon Hall of Fame members, each of whom made enormous contributions to providing researchers with the tools needed to make discoveries.