Mendenhall, Thomas Corwin

Japanese: メンデンホール - Ｍｅｎｄｅｎｈａｌｌ，ＴｈｏｍａｓＣｏｒｗｉｎ

Year of death: 1924.3.22 (1924.3.22)
Born: October 4, 1841
A foreign resident of Japan during the Meiji period. An American physicist. Born in Ohio. He studied physics by himself, and after working as a high school teacher, he was selected to teach at Ohio Agricultural and Technical College (Ohio State University). Morse, a zoology teacher at the University of Tokyo, returned to Japan temporarily to select candidates, and on his recommendation, he came to Japan in 1878 (Meiji 11), and taught physics at the University of Tokyo's Faculty of Science until 1881. After returning to Japan, he returned to his position as a professor at Ohio State University, and later served as president of Rose Institute of Technology and Walster Institute of Technology. During that time, he worked hard to arrange for Japanese students to study in the United States, and contributed to exchanges between the two countries. When he returned to Japan in 1844, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Second Class, and the report submitted to the Ministry of Education at that time listed his contributions after returning to Japan, as well as his efforts to train physics researchers during his stay in Japan, his gravity measurements and meteorological observations in Japan, and especially his accurate data on gravity and earth density measurements at the top of Mt. Fuji. He published many academic papers, one of which, "Advances in Electrical Science," has been translated into Japanese. <References> Masao Watanabe, "Hired American Science Teacher"

(Nobuhiro Miyoshi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：1924.3.22(1924.3.22)
生年：1841.10.4
明治期に来日したお雇い外国人。アメリカ人物理学者。オハイオ州生まれ。独学で物理学を修め,高校教師を経てオハイオ農工カレッジ(オハイオ州立大学)の教師に抜てきされた。東大の動物学教師モースが一時帰国して人選に当たり,その推薦で明治11(1878)年に来日し,14年まで東大理学部で物理学を教えた。帰国後,オハイオ州立大学教授に復帰し,その後ローズ工科大学,ウォルスター工科大学の学長を務めた。その間,日本からのアメリカ留学生に対して斡旋の労をとり,両国の交流に寄与した。44年の再来日時に勲2等に叙せられ,そのときの文部省の上申書には,帰国後の功労のほかに滞日中物理学の研究者の育成に力を尽くしたこと,日本における重力測定や気象観測をしたこと,特に富士山頂での重力と地球密度の測定において正確なデータを得たことなどが挙げられている。多数の学術論文を発表したが,そのなかの『電気学術之進歩』は邦訳されている。<参考文献>渡辺正雄『お雇い米国人科学教師』

(三好信浩)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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