Leo Esaki

Leo Esaki
Esaki in 1959
Born	(1925-03-12) March 12, 1925 (age 99)[1] Takaida-mura, Nakakawachi-gun, Osaka Prefecture, Empire of Japan
Alma mater	Tokyo Imperial University
Known for	Electron tunneling Esaki diode Superlattice
Spouses	Masako Araki ​ (m. 1959⁠–⁠1986)​ Masako Kondo ​ (m. 1986)​
Children	3
Awards	Japan Academy Prize (1965) Nobel Prize in Physics (1973) IEEE Medal of Honor (1991) Japan Prize (1998)[1]
Scientific career
Fields	Solid-state physics Applied physics
Institutions	IBM T. J. Watson Research Center Sony University of Tsukuba

Reona Esaki (江崎 玲於奈 Esaki Reona, born March 12, 1925), also known as Leo Esaki, is a Japanese physicist who shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973 with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials which finally led to his invention of the Esaki diode, which exploited that phenomenon. This research was done when he was with Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (now known as Sony). He has also contributed in being a pioneer of the semiconductor superlattices.^[1]