Published on December 27, 2022
Job titles and other details are as of the time of publication.
(The interview was conducted in Japanese and was thereafter translated into English.)

Mechanics, simulations, expositions...the ever-expanding scope of my research themes

Specializing in the history of science, I conduct research in two main areas: the history of physical and mathematical sciences and the history of science and technology in modern and contemporary Japan. At the same time, I am responsible for the Graduate School of Language and Society’s “Curator Qualification Program” conjointly with a faculty member of the history of Western art. Perhaps I should say that this is just “a result of what I have been doing.” I am currently teaching and conducting research at the Graduate School of Language and Society, having been led to this position by various external factors, including my historical studies at Kyoto University Graduate School of Letters and curatorial works at the National Museum of Nature and Science. During this process, the scope of my interests has continued to broaden, resulting in the diversity of my current research themes.

For example, I study the “history of mechanics,” which examines the origin and development of mechanics based on the classical works of Newton and Euler, and the “history of computational science” that provides a historical look at the development of computer simulation in the latter half of the 20th century. I also work on the “history of education and research in physics in Japan” from the Meiji era to the present and the “history of expositions and museums,” which examines connections between science and technology on one hand and society on the other through exhibitions. Common to these diverse research themes is the attitude of “finding, reading, interpreting, and expressing in my own words literature and materials from the past.” In this sense, I take a humanities approach even though my research subjects lie in the science and technology field.

In addition to these, to study history, materials must be properly preserved and easily accessible. Consequently, my interests have expanded to include “preserving and archiving” the personal documents and experimental apparatus, and even the cultural resources owned by our university. How I deal with these fully expanded research themes　is “choosing a research theme depending on my mood everyday.” To be more precise, I shift my focus in accordance with the nature of the classes and business I have on any particular day.

I chose a science course in high school and switched my specialization to the humanities to study the history of science

I chose a science course in high school and physics as my major at the undergraduate level. Back then, however, I had hoped to study a wide range of subjects, regardless of whether those were science or humanities based. I was more interested in the background of the development of theories and concepts, which is “why and how scientists came up with this and that theory or concept,” rather than research to make new discoveries. For this reason, I wavered in my choice of classes, and I even reviewed the syllabi of classes offered in other faculties and actually took an economics class. In the meantime, I took a class in the “Philosophy and History of Science” course offered at that time by Kyoto University’s Faculty of Letters. I was completely fascinated by what I learned in the class and switched my specialization to the humanities at the graduate level.

In the master's and doctoral programs, I studied the history of mechanics in 18th century Europe. In a class taught by my advisor who aroused my interest in this area of study, we read aloud and translated the original French text of an article written by the mathematician Leonhard Euler. In the course of this reading exercise, I found some parts of the article incomprehensible. I had taken French classes and had basic knowledge of mechanics, but I was able to read only one or two pages in one class session. Moreover, research on the history of science requires not simply the translation of an original text into Japanese, but an accurate understanding of the author's argument based on the common knowledge of science at the time when the original text was written. This inevitably requires us to read other articles and books, which are sometimes written in Latin or German. As a result, my doctoral dissertation reconsidered mechanics in the 18th century as a whole, focusing on Euler, which could be called a study of the history of philosophical and scientific thought.

Then came a turning point. I was taken aback by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 as I had studied the history of science. I strongly believed that I had to know and understand the historical process to discover how today’s science had brought on such a problem.

My interests shifted from Europe to Japan and from science to technology while working as a curator at the National Museum of Nature and Science

After this “turnaround,” I started to work as a curator at the National Museum of Nature and Science. Having introduced the history of science to the general public on my own website since I was a graduate student, I was interested in exhibitions, popular lectures, and other PR activities and applied for the position. I was lucky enough to be hired, and during my eight years there, I also acquired a whole new set of skills in investigating and organizing materials on Japanese scientists and research institutions. In addition, exhibitions at the National Museum of Nature and Science had to include not only past scientific facts but also up-to-date scientific content. This provided me with an opportunity to focus my historical study on the modern and contemporary period, especially postwar Japan. It is not very common for a scholar who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the 18th-century Europe to focus on postwar Japan as his research theme.

At the National Museum of Nature and Science, I expanded the scope of my research interests from the history of science to that of technology while shifting my focus from classical texts from Europe in the 18th century to primary sources from modern and contemporary Japan. As physical objects, especially artifacts, are exhibited at museums and expositions, researchers have no choice but to pay attention to technologies used in such exhibits. Moreover, given the fact that even wheels from ancient times, for example, are considered a type of technology, the history of technology has a broader scope and is closer to society compared to the history of science. It requires knowledge and skills different from those necessary for the research I have introduced so far. This is why I mentioned at the beginning that various external factors have led me here.

Perhaps it would be easier to enhance my reputation as a researcher if I focused on one research theme. But as I have already mentioned, I found it difficult to narrow my focus to one academic field even as an undergraduate student, and various kinds of encounters and turning points have led my way this far. I suppose I am fundamentally unsuited for focusing on a single thing.

The Graduate School of Language and Society is a perfect study environment for students who want to reconsider their own premises and adopt a humanities approach

Students in the Graduate School of Language and Society come from a variety of backgrounds. The students in my seminar have different purposes of study. One student majored in philosophy at the undergraduate level before studying for a master’s degree in the history of science at the graduate school. Another science major student took a master's course at a different university to study the history of science and is now interested in disaster-related history. We also have a student, formerly a high school physics teacher, who became interested in nuclear power and enrolled to study the history of science. What is common to all of these students is the adoption of a “humanities approach” to their research activities. A humanities approach reconsiders the premises in the world. In terms of science and technology, we do not simply assume the status quo but stop to ask, “What is the premise?” I believe this is the course the humanities should take.

Students have little choice but to take my classes if they want to study the history of science, but our graduate school has an ample number of professors who specialize in various fields of the humanities. I believe this is a very useful environment for students who want to conduct research while properly learning the humanities’ thoughts and languages essential to the history of science. The graduate school also offer the “Curator Qualification Program,” which helps students acquire a series of skills to, first of all, confront physical objects, redefine the meanings of things, and reconstruct and disseminate them. It is difficult to successfully earn credits, but students can receive significant rewards in this program. I would like to recommend studying in our graduate school to anyone who wishes to reconsider their own premises.