Leo Esaki

Leo Esaki
Esaki in 1959
Born	(1925-03-12) March 12, 1925 (age 100)[1] Takaida-mura, Nakakawachi-gun, Osaka Prefecture, Empire of Japan
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University (BS, 1947; PhD, 1959)
Known for	Discovering quantum tunnelling in semiconductors (1957) Inventing the tunnel diode (1957)
Awards	Asahi Prize (1959) Nishina Memorial Prize (1959) Stuart Ballantine Medal (1961) Japan Academy Prize (1965) Nobel Prize in Physics (1973) James C. McGroddy Prize (1985) Harold Pender Award (1989) IEEE Medal of Honor (1991) Japan Prize (1998)[1]
Honors	Order of Culture (1974) Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (1998)
Scientific career
Fields	Physics Experimental condensed matter physics
Institutions	Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (1947–1960) T. J. Watson Research Center (1960–1992)

Leona Esaki (Japanese: 江崎 玲於奈 Ezaki Reona; born March 12, 1925) is a Japanese physicist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials, which led to his invention of the Esaki diode that exploits this phenomenon. His research was done when he was with Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (now known as Sony). He has also contributed in being a pioneer of the semiconductor superlattices.^[1]