Forum on Fire Safety in Asia (FFSA)

History of Fire Research at Tokyo University of Science

At the heart of the present 21st Century COE Program is the Department of Fire Science and Technology at the Research Institute for Science and Technology, a unique research organization specializing in fire science established in 1981 as part of our university. There is no other university with a specialist fire science research institute of this caliber in Japan. The Department has achieved many outstanding results, in tandem with the fire experts in the Faculties of Science, Engineering and Science and Technology, as we will see below, For the Faculty of Engineering, late Professor Minoru Hamada, who made a great contribution to the founding of the Architecture Department started in 1962, was involved in wide-ranging fire science research. He focused particularly on the analysis of urban great fires, with his lifelong theme of minimizing the impact of such fires as witnessed in the Great Kanto Earthquake. Late Honorary Professor Tetsuo Moriwaki and Honorary Professor Soichiro Okishio joined the department later, while late Professor Takashi Handa of Chemistry Department at Faculty of Science, started his research on fire science and made a major contribution to development of the discipline. These scholars also put great efforts in teaching, fostering outstanding researchers in the field, including Professor Masahiro Morita and Osami Sugawa, sub-leaders of the COE. For the Faculty of Science and Technology, late Professor Kikuji Togawa and late Professor Kunio Kawagoe, the world’s leading figures in fire science research, were invited to its Architecture Department, established in 1967. Thus, Tokyo University of Science became a research and education institute unrivalled in the field of fire science, achieving research excellence and producing many researchers, Professor Takao Wakamatsu, our COE leader, can be said to be the rightful successor to Professor Kawagoe. Both have worked hard as the Chairman of Japan Association for Fire Science and Engineering (JAFSE) and helped establish the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS), neither of which could have become what they are now without their efforts. Professor Wakamatsu has paid particular attention to developing talents for the future of fire science. Many promising young researchers, including our COE members Yoshifumi Ohmiya, Ken Matsuyama and Masayuki Mizuno, were trained in his research group in the Department of Architecture at Science and Technology Faculty, and are now key players in fire science. Professor Wakamatsu has been trusted with the position of Director of Center for Fire Science and Technology since April of 2004, when the Center was founded in response to the adoption as one of the 21st Century COE Programs of our “Center of Advanced Fire Safety Science and Technology for Building” by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) in 2003. Tokyo University of Science is now embracing a new era in which to develop further as a major hub of fire science research and training, with an influx of strong new members, including Professors Shin’ichi Sugahara and Makoto Tsujimoto, as well as the imminent completion of a large experimental research and test laboratory of the Center for Fire Science and Technology in March 2005.

Page Top

Page Top