Kunihiko Kodaira belongs to the mathematical record as a figure whose results outlasted the problems that prompted them.
The record lists Kunihiko Kodaira as Japanese mathematician (1915–1997).
Kunihiko Kodaira was born at Tokyo in 1915. His recorded nationality is Japan. He studied at University of Tokyo and University of Tokyo.
Twentieth-century mathematics became abstract and highly specialised, and its methods reached into physics, economics and computing.
His academic posts were held at Johns Hopkins University, University of Tokyo and Stanford University.
The recorded fields of work are algebraic geometry, mathematics and complex manifold.
Among his principal contributions are Kodaira–Spencer map, Bochner–Kodaira–Nakano identity and Kodaira dimension. Mathematics is the one discipline whose results, once proved, are never overturned.
Recognition followed: Fields medal (1954), Order of Culture (1957), Wolf Prize in Mathematics (1984) and Japan Academy Prize (1957).
That the work was done from Japan matters: mathematical training, institutions and the language of publication have never been evenly distributed.
Kunihiko Kodaira died in 1997, aged 82. The proofs remain, and a proof does not decay - which is the particular permanence mathematics offers.
Achievements
- Fields medal — 1954
- Order of Culture — 1957
- Wolf Prize in Mathematics — 1984
- Japan Academy Prize — 1957
- Notable work: Kodaira–Spencer map
- Notable work: Bochner–Kodaira–Nakano identity
- Notable work: Kodaira dimension
- Notable work: Kodaira vanishing theorem
- Held posts at Johns Hopkins University, University of Tokyo and Stanford University
- Fields: algebraic geometry, mathematics and complex manifold
