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Astronomy in Early Showa. I. Tokyo 1926–1945

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The History of Modern Astronomy in Japan

Part of the book series: Historical & Cultural Astronomy ((HCA))

Abstract

In early Showa, Japan was under military rule and ultimately rushed headlong into World War II.

Japanese astronomers in this era were removed from the age of foreign studies. Research in astronomy and astrophysics was mostly carried out at the Tokyo Astronomical Observatory (TAO) and three Imperial Universities (Tokyo, Kyoto, and Tohoku), where some notable results were obtained. The astronomical activities in these areas will be presented separately in the next three chapters through the works of some leading astronomers.

This chapter is devoted to the Tokyo area: Tokyo Imperial University and the TAO. The astrophysical works of Hagihara Yusuke, Hatanaka Takeo, Fujita Yoshio, Kaburaki Masaki,

Osawa Kiyoteru, and Hirose Hideo are successively discussed (Unno, 2008). Studies of the history of oriental astronomy in the postwar period are also presented.

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Kogure, T. (2021). Astronomy in Early Showa. I. Tokyo 1926–1945. In: The History of Modern Astronomy in Japan. Historical & Cultural Astronomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57061-3_3

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