Takaaki Kajita

Takaaki Kajita

Takaaki Kajita is Special University Professor at The University of Tokyo, Japan, where he is also Director of the university’s Institute for Cosmic Ray Research. He received his PhD from The University of Tokyo School of Science in 1986, and has been involved in the Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande detectors research at the Kamioka Observatory in Central Japan. 

In 1998, at the Neutrino International Conference held in Takayama, Gifu, Prof Kajita presented analysis results that provided strong evidence for atmospheric neutrino oscillations. In 2015, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for his role in discovering atmospheric neutrino oscillations. He has been recognised with many awards for his work, including the 2012 Japan Academy Prize and the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Currently, he leads the KAGRA Project on exploring gravitational wave astronomy.