Tanaka, Koichi (1959-…), a Japanese engineer, won a share of the 2002 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing a way to identify proteins and other large molecules that are parts of living things. The prize was also awarded to the American chemist John B. Fenn and the Swiss chemist Kurt Wuthrich.
Tanaka’s method, announced in 1987, can identify proteins by their mass (amount of matter). First, a laser beam strikes a solid or a thick liquid containing proteins. The energy in the beam breaks away pieces of this substance, and the pieces release electrically charged proteins. Next, an electric field sets the proteins in motion—an electric field is an influence that an electric charge creates in the region around it. Finally, electronic devices measure the proteins’ time of flight over a known distance.
The time of flight of a particular protein depends on its mass and the strength of its charge. For example, the fastest proteins are those that are the lightest and have the highest charge. Tanaka’s method is complicated by the fact that a protein with a given mass can have any of several amounts of charge. But even so, scientists can analyze time measurements to determine protein masses.
Koichi Tanaka was born on Aug. 3, 1959, in Toyama City, Japan. In 1983, he received a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Tohoku University. He then went to work in the research laboratory of Shimadzu Corporation, a manufacturer of scientific, medical, and industrial products. Tanaka held a number of posts at the company’s facilities in Japan and at Kratos Analytical, a subsidiary in the United Kingdom. In May 2002, he became assistant manager of Shimadzu’s Life Science Laboratory in Japan.
Tanaka is the first person with only a bachelor’s degree to receive a Nobel Prize in chemistry. Japanese companies commonly hire scientists and engineers with bachelor’s degrees, then give them advanced training.
