新しい年が始動しました。この1年が皆さんにとって佳い年になりますよう心から願っています。

2016年を振り返ってみますと、広島が歴史の1ページを刻んだ年でした。5月27日、現職として初めてオバマ米大統領が広島市の平和記念公園で献花し、世界に向けて平和を訴えるメッセージを発しました。広島のエネルギーを爆発させた25年ぶりリーグ優勝の広島東洋カープの活躍も目に焼き付いています。

　広島大学にとっても昨年はいろいろ記念すべき年でした。3月に山中伸弥博士とジョン・ガードン博士、11月には梶田隆章博士と、3人のノーベル賞受賞者を本学にお迎えし、学生とともに高校生や市民の皆さんにご講演を聞いていただきました。

梶田博士は、素粒子ニュートリノの小さい質量を発見され、「質量はない」とされていた従来の定説を書き換えました。ニュートリノの観測で2002年に同じノーベル物理学賞を受賞した恩師、小柴昌俊博士の研究を引き継いだものと言えます。

　宇宙線研究と原子核物理学を拓いた理化学研究所の仁科芳雄研究室は、朝永振一郎博士や湯川秀樹博士ら多くの研究者を輩出しました。後にノーベル物理学賞を受賞した朝永博士が「くりこみ理論」を完成させた1948年、空襲で自宅を焼かれ、地下壕で家族と暮らしていた朝永博士を訪ねたのが、大学に入ったばかりの小柴博士でした。お家芸とされるニュートリノ物理学を築き上げた日本の科学者たちの情熱と歴史に、あらためて思いを致しました。

　梶田先生のお話で印象に残ったのは、会場からの質問に「小さいころは宇宙や物理に特に興味がなかった」と率直に語っておられたことです。研究者になろうと思ったのは大学院に入ってからと伺いました。

　著名人の自伝本をよく見かけます。物語としては大変興味深く、ドラマチックに書かれています。私も過去を振り返ってみると、確かに幾つかの重要な岐路がありました。ただ、「人生を劇的に変えそうな岐路だ」といった気付きや、「そういう星の下に生まれた」と心を揺さぶられる一瞬があった訳ではありません。そんな瞬間があれば、人生の充実感ははるかに大きいとは思うのですが。

　ごく普通に子ども時代を過ごし、「運命の赤い糸」を感じるようなエピソードなどなくても、ノーベル賞のチャンスがあるのだということを、梶田先生は教えてくれた気がします。「今からですよ」と若い学生の背中を押していただき、未来に向けての大きな励ましになったと確信しています。

　今年も無数のニュートリノが放出され、飛び交うようなエネルギーに満ち溢れた広島大学にしていきたいと思っております。皆様方のご支援を心より願っております。

A new year has begun, and I sincerely hope that this year will be a good one for all of you.

Looking back at 2016, I must say that it was a year in which Hiroshima marked a new chapter in the history of human kind. On 27th May, the US President Mr. Barack Obama, visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, becoming the first ever incumbent US President to do so. In the park, he paid a floral tribute to the victims of the atomic bomb and delivered a global message for world peace.

Also still fresh in my memory, albeit for a very different reason, is the phenomenal performance and subsequent victory of the Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team in the Central League Championship for the first time in 25 years.

Last year was also quite memorable for Hiroshima University:  three Nobel Laureates graced us with their presence as guest speakers, comprising Dr. Shinya Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon in March, and Dr. Takaaki Kajita in November. Their lectures were well attended by Hiroshima University students, local high school students, as well as the general public. 

By discovering that neutrinos do indeed have some mass, Dr. Kajita overthrew the established theory in Physics, which had maintained that neutrinos have no mass. Dr Kajita’s discovery led to him being awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize.  Interestingly, Dr. Kajita’s research topic followed on from that of Dr. Masatoshi Koshiba, who won the Novel Prize in Physics in 2002.

Dr. Yoshio Nishina’s Laboratory at RIKEN, which pioneered Cosmic Ray research and Nuclear Physics, has cultivated many distinguished researchers including some of the Nobel Laureates such as Dr. Shinichiro Tomonaga and Dr. Hideki Yukawa. Dr. Tomonaga finalized his “Renormalization Theory” in 1948, after which the Tokyo University freshman Dr. Koshiba visited him. However, Dr. Tomonaga was then forced to live in an underground bomb shelter with his family, after an air raid completely burnt down his house. Having listened to the talk about the research history of Neutrino Physics---one of Japan’s areas of expertise---and the dedicated passions of those Japanese scientists, I have renewed my determination to pursue my mission.

One thing that particularly lingers in my memory about his lecture was his frank reply to one question from the floor, in which he said, “I wasn’t particularly interested in the universe or physics in my childhood.” Indeed, it was after he enrolled in Tokyo University’s Graduate School that he decided to become a researcher.

We often come across celebrity memoirs, which as stories are interesting and dramatic. Looking back at my life, I suppose it contained certain important crossroads. However, I never experienced specific moments of revelation such as “this is the crossroads that is going to change my life in a dramatic way,” or a moment where I was emotionally stirred to feel that “I was born under a star.” Perhaps if this were to occur in a person’s life, the sense of fulfillment would be greater or more momentous…

Dr. Kajita’s talk seems to have taught me the following: even if your childhood is an ordinary one, without any episode of “a red string of fate, like an astronomical thread that is supposed to control your destiny,” you still have a chance of winning the Nobel Prize later in life. I am sure that his lecture gave the young students on the floor a boost, as if to say “your life is going to blossom from now.” In other words, he offered great encouragement for the future of those students.

I truly hope that this year will continue to witness an energized, inspired and inspiring Hiroshima University, whereby an infinite number of neutrinos (talents) is emitted into the world.