Personal History of HK

Hajime Kato was born in Gifu, Japan, in 1941. After his B.S. and M.A. studies at the Faculty of Science, Kyoto University and his Ph. D. studies at the Faculty of Engineering, Kyoto University (the supervisors were Professor T. Yamamoto and T. Yonezawa, respectively), he moved to the Faculty of Science, Kobe University as a research associate in 1968. He received degree of D.S. in 1972 from Kyoto University by studies on the MCD spectra of transition metal complexes. He was attracted by the beautiful world of high resolution laser spectroscopy during studies in U.K. as a Japanese Ramsay fellow (1973.9-1975.8). He was promoted to associted professor in 1977 and professor in 1985 at Kobe University. His research was focused on studies of molecular structure and dynamics by developing various techniques of high resolution laser spectroscopy in visible and U.V. region. He retired in 2005 and was honourably discharged as emeritus professor.