From the Front Lines of the Japanese Scientific World
A scientific researcher, writer, and translator, Academy member Toshiyuki Esaki plays a critical role in promoting and advancing science in service of the public good.
Published March 1, 2000
By Fred Moreno, Anne de León, and Jennifer Tang
Academy Contributors
Toshiyuki Esaki, a member of The New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy),doesn’t have much time for leisure travel, having been only to London (once) and Honolulu (twice) — with the purpose of each trip being “to participate in scientific meetings,” he says.
But even without leaving his native Japan, Esaki says he keeps informed about the latest scientific developments in his field by logging into the Academy’s online meetings, as well as reading the Annals, Academy Update, and The Sciences. A researcher who specializes in computer-aided design of bioactive molecules, Esaki also teaches the elementary course on information technology at Chukyo University in Nagoya. He also works as an abstractor of scientific journals and translates academic books into Japanese.
Eskai grew up in Nagoya and studied pharmaceutical sciences at Kyoto University. He says his interest in drug action at the electronic level was sparked by a lecture on quantum mechanics by one of the collaborators of Prof. Hideki Yukawa, the first Nobel Laureate in Japan. His current project is to develop a computer system to predict biological activities of molecules on the basis of their 3D chemical structures. “I am particularly interested in the theoretical elucidation of drug action at the sub-molecular level,” he says.
Raising his Consciousness as a Scientist
Esaki joined the Academy in 1994. “When I received the invitation to become a member of the Academy, I felt it was an honor to join this advanced scientific society,” he says.
He prizes the Annals, especially its series of pharmacological titles. He finds the online information at the Academy web site invaluable and also enjoys communicating with other scientists via e-mail. “I have used my membership as a source for research themes and topics in my work,” he notes, adding that Academy ideas and activities are “the compass” for his work and “raise my consciousness as a scientist.”
Esaki has published books on molecular modeling and has a forthcoming book on chemical pharmacology. He has worked for over twenty years as a translator. This year, Esaki received the Longtime Cooperator Award from Japan’s Science and Technology Corporation in recognition of his work translating reports on medicinal chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences and pharmacology that had been published in the U.S. and Western Europe.
“I feel my work in translation is the best way I can contribute to the front lines of the Japanese scientific world,” he says.
Also read: A Global Giver Lends Support from Japan
