Hagihara, Yusuke

Born Osaka, Japan, 28 March 1897

Died Tokyo, Japan, 29 January 1979

Yusuke Hagihara contributed to celestial mechanics and to the development of astronomy in Japan during the reconstruction after World War II. His early years were difficult; his parents divorced, and Yusuke’s mother left him soon after he was born. As the financial situation of his father’s factory was very bad, Hagihara had financial difficulty in his school days, but he finished his instruction in astronomy at Tokyo Imperial University in 1923 with help from Shinobu Origuch, who was his teacher of Japanese literature at the middle school in Osaka. Hagihara was survived by his wife, Yukiko, who passed away a few years after him; one daughter, Mrs. Ayako Tsuji; and two sons, Michio Fukai, a banker, and Toshio Hagihara, who was the president of the Nippon Television Network Company.

In 1925, Hagihara was appointed assistant professor of astronomy at Tokyo Imperial University and was sent to Europe by the Japanese...