Shintaro Uda

Electrical engineer. Born in Toyama Prefecture. After graduating from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tohoku Imperial University in 1924 (Taisho 13), he became a lecturer at his alma mater and engaged in research on ultra-high frequency engineering under Yagi Hidetsugu. He became an assistant professor in 1927 (Showa 2), and after studying abroad in the United States and Germany for two full years from September 1932, he became a professor at Tohoku University in 1936. During this time, his research on "investigating the waveguiding phenomenon of reradiators" and "inventing the Yagi-Uda antenna, now famous as a television receiving antenna," are particularly outstanding and highly regarded worldwide. In the 1920s, when these studies were conducted, shortwave communication was in the stage of practical application, but research on communication was not highly regarded in electrical engineering at the time. In that context, the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tohoku University conducted basic research from the perspective of "weak current engineering," and received a subsidy from the Saito Hoonkai Foundation for "research into communication methods using electricity," and concentrated their efforts on developing ultra-high frequency communication, which became the background for Uda's research.

[Kuniaki Tanaka]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

電気工学者。富山県に生まれる。1924年（大正13）東北帝国大学電気工学科を卒業後、母校の講師となり八木秀次(やぎひでつぐ)の下で超高周波工学の研究に従事。1927年（昭和2）助教授、1932年9月より満2年間アメリカおよびドイツに留学の後、1936年東北大教授に就任。この間の「再放射体の導波現象の究明」の研究と現在のテレビ受信用アンテナとして有名な「八木‐宇田アンテナの発明」はとくに傑出したもので、世界的に高く評価されている。これらの研究が行われた1920年代は短波通信の実用化の段階ではあったが、当時の電気工学のなかでは、通信関係の研究の位置は低かった。そのなかで東北大の電気工学科が「弱電工学」の立場から基礎研究を進め、「電気を利用した通信法の研究」に対して財団法人斉藤報恩会から補助金を受けて、超高周波通信の開発に向けて力を結集したことが、宇田の研究の背景となっている。

［田中國昭］

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