“Welcome Speech,” Dean Takashi Tsuboi
Prof. Takashi Tsuboi, Dean
Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences University of Tokyo
Thank you for the introduction. I am Takashi Tsuboi.
As the Dean of the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences of the University of Tokyo, I would like to speak a few words at the beginning of the memorial reception for Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi.
First of all, I thank very much those who gave lectures and those who participated in the memorial symposium. I think it was really successful with your participation and it will be remembered as a really interesting symposium.
As I told in my address at the memorial symposium, Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi graduated from the Department of Mathematics of the Faculty of Science of the University of Tokyo and so he is our alumnus. Immediately after entering the Graduate School, his went to France and then to the United States and settled at Berkeley in 1962 and he stayed there ever since as a leader of mathematics, especially, geometry. Though he worked mainly abroad, he made a lot of contribution to the mathematical community of Japan. Many Japanese mathematicians, old and young, visited Berkeley, and every time they were warmly hosted by Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi and his family. He came to Japan from time to time and visited many universities in Japan and gave lectures through which he showed us good mathematics. He also wrote many books in Japanese, which attract many people to the world of mathematics. For many Japanese students and young researchers, Professor Kobayashi showed what to do in order to become world class mathematicians. For all these things that Professor Kobayashi did, we are really grateful to him.
At the memorial symposium, I also talked about the important contribution of Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi to our Graduate School on the occasion of external evaluation in 1994. Our Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences was established in 1992, by uniting two Departments of Mathematics, one in the Faculty of Science, and the other in the College of General Education. In 1994, this building of the Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences was under construction. This Common Room of the Graduate School was already in the floor plan of the building when we began planning our future building in 1992. The members who stayed in Princeton or in Berkeley or in other departments of mathematics abroad, knew that it is important for a mathematical community to have such a common room, where people exchange mathematical ideas. At that time, however, people in the administration did not understand the necessity of a Common Room, which is neither a lecture room nor a laboratory. Then we needed to provide them with some evidence to support the necessity of a Common Room. Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi supported us at this point as well. In some sense, I feel from this Common Room the mathematical legacy of Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi.
For this memorial reception for Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi, his family members as well as his old friends kindly join us, travelling a long distance. I thank them very much. So we are blessed this evening that we can talk together not only about mathematics but also about several topics in life, with deep appreciation to Professor Shoshichi Kobayashi. I hope all of you will enjoy this atmosphere of the Common Room during the reception.
Thank you very much for your attention.
