Prof. Zensho Yoshida
Since 2021, Prof. Zensho Yoshida serves as the Director General of the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS). He was also the Professor of the University of Tokyo, Department of Advanced Energy, Graduate School of Frontiers in Sciences. Prof. Yoshida obtained his Doctor degree in Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 1985. At the same time, he became the lecturer of the University of Tokyo. He was appointed associate professor in 1986, and appointed professor in 1999.
Prof. Yoshida’s educational activities include Nonlinear Science, Basic Course on Plasma Physics, Basic Physics for Applications (Classical & Quantum Theory, Thermodynamics, Statistical & Plasma Physics).
His research activities range from the mathematical theory of operators occurring in fluids and plasmas to leading an experimental team. He has studied the self-organization of structures in plasmas using various theoretical methods and, in particular, is well known for the contribution to the mathematical theory of the curl operator ("Beltrami eigenfunctions"), which has wide applications for the understanding of nonlinear structures in general field theories. In addition to theoretical works he has led the development of a novel plasma confinement system, Ring Trap 1 (RT-1), which uses a super-conducting ring, levitated in the vacuum chamber, producing a magnetic field that traps high-temperature plasma in a magnetosphere-like configuration.
Prof. Yoshida served as a Science Advisor at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan (2004-2010), and as the President of the Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research (2017-2019). In 2018, he was invited by Research Institute of Mathematical Sciences (Berkeley, USA) as the Chern Professor.
