Professor Akira Tsuchiyama from the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was awarded the Miyake Prize, as was announced by the Japan Geoscience Union (JpGU) in May 2022.
Professor Tsuchiyama is recognized for his outstanding contributions to material science for earth and planetary science. He has made innovative achievements in laboratory experiments on phase transformation, crystallization, melting, evaporation, condensation, and diffusion of natural materials, and in the development of synchrotron radiation X-ray computed tomography. Representative achievements include the quantification of heating and cooling conditions through experiments reproducing the chondrule textures of meteorites, and the quantification of kinetic effects on nucleation, microstructure formation, and solid-liquid element partitioning during igneous processes. He also developed an X-ray CT system with submicron spatial resolution at the synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8 for the non-destructive observation of three-dimensional structures, and elucidated the large-scale mass transport in the solar system and the surface geology of asteroids from the micro-rock samples of comet Wild2 and the asteroid Itokawa. In addition, he identified formation site of meteorite parent body by analyzing the pore structure and micro-liquid inclusions in the primitive meteorite matrix. These remarkable accomplishments are a new contribution to the field of material science, distinct from research in planetary science and astronomy based on observation, theory, and exploration.
Akira Tsuchiyama
The Miyake Prize was established in 1972 by Professor Yasuo Miyake, one of the founders of the field of environmental radioactivity in the oceans and atmosphere. In 2018, the prize was transferred from the Geochemistry Research Association to JpGU, an academic union that covers all the disciplines of Earth and planetary sciences and related fields, with over 10,000 individual members and 51 society members. The Miyake Prize honors internationally renowned scientists in material science related to earth and planetary science every other year, Professor Tsuchiyama being the sole recipient this year.
Professor Tsuchiyama was previously elected Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America, the Meteoritical Society, as well as JpGU.
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