CHEMIST

Kenichi Fukui

1918 - 1998

Photo of Kenichi Fukui

Icon of person Kenichi Fukui

Kenichi Fukui (福井 謙一, Fukui Ken'ichi; October 4, 1918 – January 9, 1998) was a Japanese chemist. He became the first person of East Asian ancestry to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry when he won the 1981 prize with Roald Hoffmann, for their independent investigations into the mechanisms of chemical reactions. Fukui's prize-winning work focused on the role of frontier orbitals in chemical reactions: specifically that molecules share loosely bonded electrons which occupy the frontier orbitals, that is, the Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital (HOMO) and the Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital (LUMO). Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Kenichi Fukui is the 214th most popular chemist (down from 206th in 2019), the 161st most popular biography from Japan (up from 230th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular Japanese Chemist.

Memorability Metrics

Loading...

Page views of Kenichi Fukui by language

Loading...

Among CHEMISTS

Among chemists, Kenichi Fukui ranks 214 out of 602. Before him are Alan MacDiarmid, James Dewar, Roald Hoffmann, Johann Wilhelm Ritter, Nikolay Semyonov, and Paul Lauterbur. After him are Geoffrey Wilkinson, Sophia Brahe, Leo Baekeland, Osamu Shimomura, Giulio Natta, and C. N. R. Rao.

Most Popular Chemists in Wikipedia

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Contemporaries

Among people born in 1918, Kenichi Fukui ranks 45. Before him are Franco Modigliani, Julian Schwinger, Mike Wallace, João Goulart, James Tobin, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.. After him are Edward B. Lewis, Betty Ford, Maurice Druon, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Birgit Nilsson, and Yasuhiro Nakasone. Among people deceased in 1998, Kenichi Fukui ranks 29. Before him are Tameo Ide, Theodore Schultz, George H. Hitchings, Raymond Cattell, Falco, and Shoichi Nishimura. After him are Nizar Qabbani, Julien Green, Helen Wills, Kunitaka Sueoka, Alfred Schnittke, and Stokely Carmichael.

Others Born in 1918

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Others Deceased in 1998

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

In Japan

Among people born in Japan, Kenichi Fukui ranks 161 out of 6,245. Before him are Sen no Rikyū (1522), Shoichi Nishimura (1912), Ashikaga Takauji (1305), Masao Uchino (1934), Emperor Go-Sai (1638), and Empress Genshō (680). After him are Takashi Furukawa (1981), Shunroku Hata (1879), Emperor Sujin (-147), Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797), Issey Miyake (1938), and Kuniaki Koiso (1880).

Others born in Japan

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous

Among CHEMISTS In Japan

Among chemists born in Japan, Kenichi Fukui ranks 2. Before him are Akira Suzuki (1930). After him are Osamu Shimomura (1928), Hideki Shirakawa (1936), Ryōji Noyori (1938), Akira Yoshino (1948), Satoshi Ōmura (1935), Kikunae Ikeda (1864), Kaoru Ishikawa (1915), Koichi Tanaka (1959), Masatoshi Shima (1943), and Takamine Jōkichi (1854).

Japanese born Chemists

Go to all Rankings
Load previousLoad previous