Masato Sagawa
Masato Sagawa is the Founder and President of Intermetallics Co Ltd. He is a Japanese scientist and entrepreneur most known for inventing the sintered permanent magnet NdFeB. His most prized achievement is the invention and industrialization of the world's most powerful Nd-Fe-B sintered magnets and the continuation of the research and development of the production technologies enabling their resource-saving manufacturing and the reduction in the amount of usage of rare metals. Sagawa was awarded the Japan Prize in 2012 for his efforts towards energy conservation.
- Sagawa was born in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan.
- He is active in his laboratory.
- His most important research subject now is the development of heat resistant NdFeB sintered magnets without dysprosium (Dy).
- He has appeared as a guest on Real Vision.
NdFeB
- The sintered NdFeB was initially conceived and developed when he was with Fujitsu Laboratories.
- Without his supervisor's support for the new magnetic compound, Sagawa resigned in 1981 and then joined Sumitomo Special Metals.
- Within months after joining SSM in 1982, the strongest sintered NdFeB magnet was developed.
- He presented the new discovery of NdFeB magnet during the Magnetism and Magnetic Materials Conference in Nov. 1983 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS
- At Fujitsu Company, he was assigned to develop magnetic materials for electric relays.
- At Sumitomo Special Metals, he accomplished the invention of the NdFeB sintered magnets.
- He has been a consultant for several companies, including Ugimag S.A. in France, Showa Denko in Japan.
AWARDS AND HONORS
- Osaka Prize (1984)
- Minister of Science and Technology Agency Award (1985)
- James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials (1986)
- Asahi Prize (1990)
- Japan Magnetics Society Award (1991)
- Okochi Memorial Prize (1993)
- Acta Metallurgica J. Herbert Hollomon Award (1998)
- Honda-kinen Prize (2003)
- Kato-kinen Prize (2006)
- Japan Prize (2012)