Yoshinobu Tanigawa, Professor Emeritus at the Osaka Prefecture University, passed away on August 19, 2018. I sincerely express my deep sympathy to the spirit of Professor Yoshinobu Tanigawa.
Professor Tanigawa was an excellent researcher in the field of thermal stress. His research on thermal stress is based on (1) theoretical study of the coupled thermoelastic problems in two and three dimensions, (2) elasticity and thermoelastic study of heterogeneous and anisotropic laminated materials, (3) thermal stresses in functionally graded materials, (4) piezoelectric thermoelasticity, (5) electromagnetic thermoelasticity, and so on. He has published about 200 academic papers in international journals.
Professor Tanigawa published seven textbooks (elasticity, strength of materials, computational mechanics and others) in Japanese. He wrote the textbook Thermal Stresses in English with Professor Hetnarski and me. This distinguished textbook is an excellent source of knowledge for students, engineers and researchers worldwide.
Professor Tanigawa, as the central figure of a research group on the mathematical theory of elasticity organized by six research colleagues (Kurashige, Hata, Noda, Sumi, Tanigawa, and Watanabe) in Japan, contributed to the progress of the fields of elasticity and thermoelasticity. His effort was widely appreciated, and he was awarded “Achievement Award” by Materials & Mechanics Division in the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2009 for “A series of achievements on mathematical analysis of elasticity and thermoelasticity.”
Professor Tanigawa and I on behalf of the research group visited Professor Hetnarski at Rochester Institute of Technology in the U.S.A. to discuss how to organize a Symposium on Thermal Stresses in Japan. We had two days of meetings and agreed that the Symposium on Thermal Stresses and Related Topics, as it was called, would be organized by Professor Hetnarski and me in Hamamatsu, Japan. The Symposium, now referred to as the First International Congress on Thermal Stresses was held on June 5–7, 1995. A large number of world-renowned scientists attended the Symposium and it was considered a great success. After the Symposium, Professor Hetnarski organized the Second at Rochester in 1997 and the Third was held at Cracow Poland in 1999. Professor Hetnarski established the International Congress on Thermal Stresses in the current pattern. Professor Tanigawa organized the Fourth International Congress on Thermal Stresses in Osaka on June 8–11, 2001. Many researchers not only from Japan, but also many other countries of Asia, America, Europe, and Africa participated. He received great commendations for the excellent organization of the Congress from many researchers.
Professor Tanigawa also served as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Thermal Stresses and worked hard to disseminate the results on thermal stresses. In recognition of these international activities, he received the award of “Achievement of Thermal Stresses” from the committee of the International Congress on Thermal Stresses in 2007.
Professor Tanigawa always educated his students cordially. Students in his laboratory graduated with good memories of school days. They are active in the field of engineering.
Professor Tanigawa was honest and gentle in character and received a great deal of respect and trust from his research colleagues and students.
I pray Professor Tanigawa’s soul may rest in peace.
April 2019
Naotake Noda
(Professor Emeritus, Shizuoka University)
A note from the honorary editor
Professor Yoshinobu Tanigawa was my close friend. We spent a lot of time together, especially during my multiple stays in Japan, and we worked jointly on a number of projects. As Professor Noda stated above, three of us published the textbook Thermal Stresses which now is available in the second edition (Taylor and Francis, 2003). We both were coauthors of the book by six authors Theory of Elasticity and Thermal Stresses (Eslami, Hetnarski, Ignaczak, Noda, Sumi, and Tanigawa, Springer, 2013). Also, Professor Tanigawa contributed entries to the edited by me Encyclopedia of Thermal Stresses (Springer, 2014). In 1995 and 2001, we worked together on the organization of International Congresses on Thermal Stresses in Japan.
Professor Tanigawa devoted much time to help me to get to know places of special interest in Japan. Among them, he took me on a visit to the huge and impressive Himeji castle, a monumental edifice built and expanded in 14th to 17th centuries, and the only one of such historical importance and size to survive the war. He also showed me the city of Kobe soon after the devastating earthquake, the so-called Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995: a horrible view of high-rise buildings turned into rubble or standing in strange leaning positions.
With great sadness,
Richard B. Hetnarski