Yasuo Tanaka (astronomer)

Yasuo Tanaka (田中 靖郎, Tanaka Yasuo, born March 18, 1931) is a Japanese astrophysicist and a member of the Japan Academy. He is professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) (part of JAXA) in Kanagawa, Japan, and was guest scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany.
He is a pioneer X-ray astronomy, leading the development and operation of the GINGA, TENMA, and ASCA satellites.

Awards

• James Craig Watson Medal (1994)
• Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences (1998)
• Bruno Rossi Prize (2001)
• Person of Cultural Merit (2011)

Named after him

• Asteroid 4387 Tanaka

Other

• Foreign member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1989)
• The American Astronomical Society named him an Honorary Member (2012)

• "Y. Tanaka". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2016.