A Tribute to Professor Sueo Kawabata

Citation

Niwa, M., Matsudaira, M. and Stylios, G.K. (2002), "A Tribute to Professor Sueo Kawabata", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 14 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijcst.2002.05814caa.001

A Tribute to Professor Sueo Kawabata

With deepest regrets the community was told of the loss of Professor Sueo Kawabata, on September 12^th 2001, on account of hepatic failure. The 30^th Research Symposium at Mt Fuji last August celebrated Professor Kawabata's 70^th birthday. Unfortunately, Professor Kawabata was unable to attend that conference for the first time since its inception, due to his illness a few days before the conference began, and, while he was anticipating recovery, his physical condition declined before he expired. Professor Kawabata gave birth to the Textile Research Symposium and had nurtured it for over 30 years. He was Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University and the University of Shiga Prefecture.

In honour of Professor Kawabata's foresighted and extensive life long contribution in Textile Science and Engineering, the International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology publishes in this issue eleven selected papers from the conference which was organised into six sessions, focussing the areas in which Professor Kawabata had made major contribution. The six sessions were:

1. 1.

   Fiber Science and Textile Industry;

2. 2.

   Rubber Science and Composites;

3. 3.

   Textile Product Engineering;

4. 4.

   Textile Structural Mechanics;

5. 5.

   Clothing Science; and

6. 6.

   Comfort Design.

In these six sessions, 17 presentations were made including five keynote lectures and 12 invited lectures.

The conference was organised with the co-operation of the following organisations.

• •

  The Textile Machinery Society of Japan;

• •

  The Society of Fiber Science and Technology, Japan;

• •

  The Textile Institute, Japan Section;

• •

  The Japan Society of Home Economics;

• •

  The Japan Society for Composite Materials; and

• •

  The Japan Research Association for Textile End-Users.

All of us closely connected with Professor Kawabata have made a parting pledge to continue his research, as a living tribute. To that effect, the 31^st Textile Research Symposium at Mt Fuji is now being organised between the 2^nd and 4^th of August 2002.

A brief biography of Professor Sueo Kawabata

Professor Sueo Kawabata was born in Nara, Japan, in 1931. He graduated from the Department of Textile Chemistry of the graduate school of Kyoto University in 1960, then joined Kyoto University as a research associate in the Department of Polymer Chemistry (formerly Textile Chemistry) and started research on polymer solid mechanics and textile processing. He received his Doctor of Engineering degree from Kyoto University in 1961. In 1964, he spent a year at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA, as a research fellow and continued the study of polymer solid mechanics, particularly the fracture of solid rocket propellants. This research has developed into a basic research on rubber elasticity.

After his return to Kyoto University, he became an associate professor in the Department of Polymer Chemistry in 1965, and then a professor in charge of the Mechanics of Polymer Solids in 1983. Around 1970, he initiated research on the mechanical properties of fiber and textile structures. In the research of textile mechanics, he was interested in the interaction between the material properties and human sensitivity, and learned that this interaction was closely related to the real quality of clothing products. He initiated research to explain this interaction and started the research on the fabric subjective evaluation, called fabric hand judgement, with the co-operation of Dr Masako Niwa and experts in the textile industry.

After his retirement from Kyoto University in 1994, he moved to a newly established university, the University of Shiga Prefecture, and contributed to the establishment of the university as the head of the Department of Materials Science. He retired from the University in March 2001, having been Professor Emeritus of Kyoto University and the University of Shiga Prefecture.

Around 1970, textile education in Japan began to be reduced and young textile researchers became directionless as far as their future was concerned. Professor Kawabata worried about this reduction, and in 1972 organised the textile research Symposium in Kyoto with the co-operation of The Textile Machinery Society of Japan, and organised this symposium every year thereafter. The symposium gradually became an international symposium under the co-operation of six fiber and textile organisations, and excellent papers have been presented from all parts of the world. This symposium is now called the Mt Fuji Symposium. Not merely for technical discussions, this symposium has produced a good friendship between people in textiles from all over the world. The 30^th Mt Fuji Symposium was held in August 2001.

For over 40 years, Professor Kawabata's research has made a lot of contribution to the progress of research in textile and polymer mechanics fields. For example, his objective evaluation system of fabric hand has received wide practical application in the world since 1980. He has received many prizes for his research activities from many academic organisations. The main prizes are shown in the following list:

Main Prizes Awarded to Professor Sueo Kawabata

1971 Fujino Memorial Prize from the Textile Machinery Society of Japan for research in textile fields (Japan).

1974 Science Prize from the Society of Polymer Science, Japan for research on the finite deformation property of elastomers (Japan).

1987 Warner Memorial Medal from the Textile Institute (UK) for research in the textile field (UK).

1989 Moet–Hennesy Louis–Vuitton International Prize of Science for Art, for research on objective measurement of textile tactile properties (France).

1992 Henry Millson Award for Invention, from the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), (USA), for research on the development of the fabric measurement system (KESF system) (USA).

1993 Honorary Doctor Degree (Science) from the Technical University of Liberec, for contribution to textile and polymer science (Czech Republic).

1993 Award for Excellence, from the Literati Club, London, through Sir G. Holland Permanent Secretary of the Department of Education UK, for contribution to polymer and textile science (UK).

1994 Society Prize from the Society of Rheology Japan, for research on polymer and textile rheology (Japan).

1995 Contribution Award to Polymer and Textile Science from the Faculty of Textiles, Technical University of Liberec (Czech Republic).

1995 Honorary Fellow of the Textile Institute (UK).

1998 Honorary Membership of the Fiber Society (USA).

1998 Honorary Doctor Degree (Science) from Heriot–Watt University, School of Textiles, Edinburgh (UK).

2001 Svaty Medal for outstanding development in Textile Science (Czech Republic).

2001 Honorary Member of Textile Architecture Institute (Poland).

Masako Niwa, Mitsuo Matsudaira and George K StyliosSpecial Issue Editors