Leona Esaki (Japanese: 江崎 玲於奈 Ezaki Reona; born March 12, 1925) is a Japanese physicist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Ivar Giaever and Brian David Josephson for his work in electron tunneling in semiconductor materials, which led to his invention of the Esaki diode that exploits this phenomenon.

Since 1969, Esaki has, with his colleagues, pioneered “designed semiconductor quantum structures” such as man-made superlattices, exploring a new quantum regime in the frontier of semiconductor physics. The Nobel Prize in Physics (1973) was awarded in recognition of his pioneering work on electron tunneling in solids.

Leo Esaki Nobel Prize in Physics 1973 Born: 12 March 1925, Osaka, Japan Affiliation at the time of the award: IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA Prize motivation: “for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively”

His work earned him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1925 and his discovery underpins modern colloid science. It represented an important step in a continuing effort of developing methods to directly image smaller and smaller molecular assemblies, for example nanoparticles.

Mar 8, 2025 · Leo Esaki (born March 12, 1925, Ōsaka, Japan) is a Japanese solid-state physicist and researcher in superconductivity who shared the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1973 with Ivar Giaever and Brian Josephson.

Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Prize from IRE Stuart Ballantine Medal from the Franklin Institute: 1965: Japan Academy Award: 1973: Nobel Prize in Physics: 1974: Order of Culture from the Japanese Government: 1985: American Physical Society International Prize for New Materials: 1991: IEEE Medal of Honor

In 1973, Leo Esaki shared with Giaever one half of the Nobel Prize in Physics “for their experimental discoveries regarding tunnelling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively.”

Esaki won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in electron tunneling in solids — research that forever changed the semiconductor industry. By age 48, he was one of the most respected research physicists in the world and a godfather of home computing.

Leo Esaki was awarded Nobel Prize 1973 in Physics . Nationality Japan. Institution Shibaura Institute of Technology. Award 1973. Discipline Physics. Co-recipients Brian Josephson, Ivar Giaever. Read CV. Further Information on the Official Web Site of the Nobel Prize

For this great contribution, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics together with Dr. B. D. Josephson and Dr. I. Giaever in 1973. 2. Proposal and realization of the concept of semi-conductor superlattice