Hideo Itokawa
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Hideo Itokawa (糸川英夫) (July 20, 1912–1999) was a pioneer of Japanese rocketry and the Japanese space program.
He was born in Tokyo on July 20, 1912 and graduated from the Imperial University of Tokyo majoring in Aeronautical engineering in 1935. During World War II, he was involved in designing aircraft in the Nakajima Aircraft Company and designed the Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa. He became an assistant professor of the Imperial University of Tokyo in 1941. He became a professor in 1948. He retired from the post in 1967 and established an institute.
Itokawa was a genius skipping elementary grades and studied many topics. He wrote 49 books becoming the best selling author several times. Topics he became interested in or took as a hobby are:
- Basketball
- Baton Twirling
- Brain waves
- Cello
- Classic Vallet Dancing
- English Plays
- Golf
- Harmonica
- Mah Jong
- Orchestra arrangement
- Organ
- Piano
- Philosophy
- Rocket Engineering
- Suicide
- Swimming
- Taishokin - a type of xylophone
- Violin
- Writing novels
- Xylophone
Bibliography
- Gyakuten no Hasso
- Hachijussai no Aria
- Koya wo Yuku
The asteroid 25143 Itokawa is named after him.