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Akitsune Imamura | |
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 Akitsune Imamura | |
| Born | (1870-06-14)June 14, 1870 |
| Died | January 1, 1948(1948-01-01) (aged 77) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Seismology |
| Institutions | University of Tokyo |
Akitsune Imamura (今村 明恒,Imamura Akitsune;Kagoshima, 14 June 1870 – 1 January 1948) was a Japaneseseismologist. As a University of Tokyo seismologist he represented a new generation of scientists, trained by Western experts. He predicted the timing and magnitude of the 1923Great Kantō earthquake 16 years in advance.
Akitsune Imamura was born inKagoshima. His father was theSamurai ofSatsuma Domain, but the family was poor. But he hoped to study, and received education in theFirst Higher School after secondary school. In 1891, he entered theTokyo Imperial University. He majored inphysics, but studied in the seismological seminar after getting thebachelor's degree.
He became an assistant professor at his alma mater. In 1899, in anticipation of the later theory ofplate tectonics, he argued that thetsunami that struck theSanriku coast ofHonshū island in 1896 (known as theMeiji Sanriku tsunami) had been triggered by movements of theEarth's crust under the sea. In a paper written in 1905, he predicted that a major earthquake would hit theKantō region aroundTokyo within 50 years and kill over 100,000 people, and advocated that measures be taken. His worries materialized when theGreat Kantō earthquake devastated Tokyo in 1923, claiming more than 100,000 victims.
In 1939, while working for the Seismological Observatory of Tokyo University, Imamura made a reconstruction ofZhang Heng's seismoscope (132 CE), considered to have been the first such device ever made.
He re-established theSeismological Society of Japan.[1]
Bullen, K.E. (1970–1980). "Imamura, Akitune".Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 7. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 9–10.ISBN 978-0-684-10114-9.
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