東大11人:1950-60年代移民美國的日本氣象學家

(2021/05/02發表於個人臉書)

二戰後的1950-60年代,有一些日本氣象學家移民美國,他們對氣象學許多領域有著巨大貢獻。這些日本氣象學家包括Yoshimitsu Ogura,Tetsuya Fujita,Yoshikazu Sasaki,Syukuro Manabe,Kikuro Miyakoda,Akio Arakawa,Michio Yanai等,其中三人更是拿到氣象學最高榮譽,美國氣象協會的Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal:Akio Arakawa (1977),Kikuro Miyakoda (1991),和Syukuro Manabe (1992)。

John Lewis (1993, BAMS) 回顧了二戰後移民美國的11位日本東京大學畢業的氣象學家,探討了他們移民美國的原因,以及這些科學家們共通的一些經歷。John Lewis會想寫這篇文章的原因之一,是因為他在芝加哥大學的指導教授Yoshikazu Sasaki就是其中一位移民美國的日本氣象學家,在芝大時他也碰過Miyakoda,Kasahara,Yanai等人。他畢業後去了University of Illinois,主任是另一位日本氣象學家Yoshimitsu Ogura,他覺得他跟這些日本氣象學家似乎有種緣分。我相信不只是Lewis,很多人也對這些日本氣象學家印象深刻。我2019年去聽AMS Richard Anthes Symposium,Richard Anthes就回憶說他以為日本人都是爆幹強的氣象學家,他有次去日本參加研討會,搭計程車時想跟司機聊一下氣象學,結果那個司機一臉“你在說三小”的表情,還讓他很驚訝,也才知道不是所有日本人都是氣象學家。

這些日本氣象學家也跟台灣有點關聯,因為他們指導的一些台灣學生後來回到台灣服務,像曾忠一老師是Yoshikazu Sasaki在University of Oklahoma的學生,隋中興老師,洪致文老師,盧孟明老師,鄭明典局長是Michio Yanai在UCLA的學生。

前言有點長,以下的正文是我看John Lewis (1993, BAMS)以及一些其他文章的筆記。

這些日本氣象學家的少年時代碰到二次世界大戰,所以他們的小學,國中,高中,甚至大學教育都遇到中斷期,很多時候要靠自修。Sasaki就回憶說:

“...because of the irregular schedules, the study of science especially depended much upon individual study in Japan during these years” (Sasaki 2007, in Lewis 2009)

他們求學期間或拿到學位後,日本正處在戰後的重建期,生活條件很差,工作機會很少,常常必須兼差多份工作賺生活費。Miyakoda回憶說他在東大唸書的時候,同時還在兩個高中當老師,傍晚當家教,在四個地方奔波 (Miyakoda 1992, in Lewis 1993)。Ogura也回憶說他在東京時生活很淒慘,找不到地方住,只好睡在實驗室桌上,也常常挨餓,肚子空空的很難去思考科學問題。

“My life in Tokyo was plain miserable for a few years after the end of the war. First of all I could not find a place to live, since so many houses were burned down [The incendiary bomb raid of 10 March 1945 de- stroyed large sections of Tokyo]. I brought my futons in the lab and cleaned off the top of a big lab table every night.. . to sleep. I was hungry all the time. With an empty stomach, you cannot think of science well.” (Ogura 1992, in Lewis 1993).

相比於日本艱困的情況,美國的工作機會還有研究資源都多上許多,也不難想像這些日本氣象學家會考慮離開日本,移民美國。但是,他們會選擇美國以及順利過去,很大一部分是受到東大的Prof. Shigekata Syono和Dr. Kanzaburo Gambo的影響。

Shigekata Syono在1945-1969年在東大擔任氣象學教授,他對這些移民美國的日本年輕氣象學家們有著直接或間接的影響。Syono專長之一是動力氣象,他1949年對Charney (1947)的baroclinic instability paper極度興奮,覺得那篇文章把氣象科學現代化。Syono晚了兩年才看到Charney的paper是因為當時資訊流通較慢,通常要一兩年才會看到國外期刊。

“One day in 1949 Professor Syono, typically low-keyed, ... rushed into our classroom in the Geophysical Institute with a copy of Jule Charney's baroclinic instability paper in his hand (Charney 1947) and excitedly proclaimed, "Look! This paper has modernized the science of meteorology!" Obviously, we students had to read that paper very carefully from beginning to end. My impression was that Syono himself had been thinking of developing the dynamic theory of disturbances in the westerlies in a series of his works on atmospheric disturbances (for which he received the prestigious Japanese Academy of Science Award in 1950), but he was shocked to find that his long-term wish had been accomplished by Charney.” (A. Kasahara 1992, in Lewis 1993)

Syono也常常跟他們說,日本的動力氣象研究落後其他國家,所以強烈鼓勵他們去國際舞台學習

“Professor Syono always emphasized to us that the research atmosphere in the field of dynamics in Japan was not good compared with that in the foreign countries. So, he strongly expected the Japanese young meteorologists to grow up in the international field of dynamic meteorology. In this sense, he was a great pioneer to push up the research level in the field of dynamic meteorology. During the period 1945-1960, the young Japanese meteorologists received a strong impression from his research attitude.” (K. Gambo 1992, in Lewis 1993)

Syono和日本氣象協會在1960年11月7日-13日在東京主辦了一個數值天氣預報國際研討會 (International Symposium on Numerical Weather Prediction in Tokyo),參加者有Jule Charney,Norman Philips,Arnt Eliassen,Edward Lorenz,Hsian-Lan Kuo,還有很多非常知名的科學家,可說是數值氣象領域的全明星會。

Syono辦這個研討會的目的之一是想把這些才華洋溢的年輕日本氣象學家介紹給全世界,而這些日本氣象學家的確也驚艷這些國外的科學家,讓他們之後有去國外發展的機會

"[provide the opportunity for] talented young scientists in Japan to meet in person many of the leading scientists who attended . . . and who later arranged to invite them to the U.S. For example, George Platzman met Kiku Miyakoda at the meeting and arranged for him to come to Chicago in 1962. . . . If I remember correctly, Yale Mintz arranged for Akio Arakawa to come to UCLA after the Symposium, not before" (A. Kasahara 1992, in Lewis 1993)

"Looking back, it is fair to say that the meeting was one of the epoch-making events in the history of NWP" (A. Kasahara 1992, in Lewis 1993)

這些日本氣象學家會選擇美國而不是其他國家,很大一部分是受到Dr. Kanzaburo Gambo的影響。

Gambo在東大攻讀博士學位時,把他的baroclinic disturbances一些研究成果和Charney聯絡,於是Charney邀請Gambo去普林斯頓高等研究院(Institute for Advanced Study; IAS)做研究員。Gambo在IAS待了兩年 (1952-1954),然後回到東大。在IAS期間,Gambo常常寄詳細的報告回日本,講數值天氣預報的進展,還有未來的潛力。Gambo回到日本後,他和Syono成立一個數值天氣預報社團 (NWP group),這社團對數值天氣研究有著重要貢獻,尤其當時日本很可能沒電腦可用,計算需要靠手算或圖解法,非常了不起。

Gambo在IAS的美好和寶貴經驗,我想也是後來這些年輕日本氣象學家選擇移民美國的原因之一。在1954年Gambo回到日本不久,幾位日本氣象學家就陸續在美國找到職缺,如Ogura at John Hopkins, 1954; Kasahara at Texas A&M, 1954; Sasaki at Texas A&M, 1956; Manabe at GFDL, 1958。1960年的數值天氣國際研討會後,更多日本氣象學家來到美國,如Miyakoda at Chicago, 1960; Arakawa at UCLA, 1961; Yanai at CSU, 1961; Kurihara at GFDL, 1962。在1960中期以後,日本的經濟和生活條件顯著改善,選擇移民國外的人數也就銳減了。

最後做個總結。

我碩士班在讀papers時,就看到很多日本名字,像Arakawa,Manabe,Ogura等,那時候沒想太多。看完Lewis (1993)這篇文章後,才知道這些才華洋溢的日本氣象學家,因為當時戰後日本艱困的生活條件,沒什麼工作機會,才選擇移民美國,之後對氣象領域有著無比巨大的貢獻。他們會如此成功,我想歸因於天資,努力,還有機會。特別是Syono在1960年於東京辦的數值氣象預報研討會,的確把這些才華洋溢的日本氣象學家,介紹給全世界。

(Lewis 1993)





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參考資料

Esbensen, S. K., J.-H. Chu, W. Tung, and R. G. Fovell, 2016: Six Decades of Tropical Meteorology Research—A Retrospective on Michio Yanai’s Life and Career. Meteorol. Monogr., 56, xvii–xxx, https://doi.org/10.1175/amsmonographs-d-15-0010.1.

Lewis, J. M., 1993: Meteorologists from the University of Tokyo: Their Exodus to the United States Following World War II. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 74, 1351–1360, https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1993)074<1351:mftuot>2.0.co;2.

Lewis, J. M., 2009: Sasaki’s Pathway to Deterministic Data Assimilation. Data Assim. Atmos. Ocean. Hydrol. Appl., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71056-1_1.

Meteorological Society of Japan, 1962: Proceedings of International Symposium on Numerical Weather Prediction. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 656 pp

Persson, A., 2005: Early operational Numerical Weather Prediction outside the USA: an historical introduction: Part II: Twenty countries around the world. Meteorol. Appl., 12, 269, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1350482705001751.