On October 29th, 2004 it was announced that Emeritus Professor Akasaki would receive the Person of Cultural Merit designation on November 4th, 2004.
Shinichi Hirano, the President of Nagoya University, made the following comments at the time.
President's Comments
I am so happy that Emeritus Professor Isamu Akasaki has been chosen to receive this illustrious honor as a Person of Cultural Merit.
Emeritus Professor Akasaki's research during his time at NagoyaUniversity was highly valued and led to this award, and this is a major honor for the university, of which I am very proud.
Emeritus Professor Akasaki's research achieved high-performance gallium nitride positive-negative junctions for blue light emitters, and caused a revolution in semiconductor research. Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd is working on the practical aspects of this research, and we expect that this will lead to new fields in electronics, such as even higher-density recording of information and processing at higher speeds.
In honor of his achievements, NagoyaUniversity plans to build an Akasaki Research Exchange (tentative title), and preparations are currently underway. This honor is a significant promotion for NagoyaUniversity's research education activities, and I sincerely believe that it will help Japan's scientific research move to the next level. I expect great things in the future.
October 29th, 2004
President of Nagoya University, Shinichi Hirano