Jinzo Kobayashi

The retirement of Professor Jinzo Kobayashi from the Department of Applied Physics, Waseda University, Tokyo, after his association with it of over fifty years, was celebrated on 2nd March 1996 in the University's International Convention Center. A distinguished audience of about 200 crystallographers, physicists and other guests heard a lecture by Professor Kobayashi on `Chiral Physics' and another on `Crystal Optics, Ferroelectricity and Prof. Kobayashi' by Professor S. C. Abrahams. Prior to the series of papers published by Professor Kobayashi in the Journal of Applied Crystallography on his High-Accuracy Universal Polarimeter, the shapes and dimensions of the gyration surfaces for nearly all optically active crystals were unknown. his major experimental and theoretical breakthrough in developing HAUP has led to the ability to determine the birefringence, optical activity and indicatrix rotation in crystals of any symmetry, whether dichroic or not, in addition to their full electrogyration and electro-optic tensors. The celebration concluded with an elegant farewell party at which many speeches commemorated Professor Kobayashi's scientific work and life.