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Syun-Ichi Akasofu
Born in Japan in 1930, Syun-Ichi Akasofu earned his bachelor's degree in geophysics in 1949 at Tokohu University in Sendai, Japan and came to Alaska in 1958 as a graduate student to study the aurora borealis under Dr. Sydney Chapman at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). He was a pioneer in the use of all-sky cameras and his research led to better understanding of the shape of the aurora and auroral storms. As a space physicist, he was instrumental in the discovery of auroral substorms. Dr. Akasofu was director of the Geophysical Institute from 1986 to 1999, and in that role helped expand operations at the Poker Flat Research Range with its use of rockets and satellites for atmospheric research, and established the Alaska Volcano Observatory. In 1999, he became the founding director of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) at UAF and developed close collaboration with Japanese researchers. In 2000, he participated in the afternoon storytelling session at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and shared some of his memories of working there. He served as IARC's director until his retirement in 2007. In retirement, as Emeritus Professor of Physics at UAF, Dr. Akasofu has remained engaged in discussions of climate change science. For more about Syun-Ichi Akasofu, see a profile of him prepared for UAF's Centennial Celebration.