IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2021 - 94

and loved Japanese " sake " or Japanese
rice wine because Nagaoka is
famous as the center of the best
sake brewers in Japan (Figure 2).
He received many prestigious
FIG 2 Prof. Akira Nabae (front center) enjoying sake with his research group in Nagaoka
in 1986.
power electronics and motor drives.
His team succeeded in developing
the 55-kW (30-min power rating)
water-cooled inverter using 12 newly-developed
bipolar junction transistors
rated at 1000 V and 200 A,
intended for a pure electric vehicle
(EV). This was a pioneering contribution
looking forward to the market
of today's EVs. This success
became his motive force of conducting
research on vector control of
induction motors.
In April 1978, he was appointed
as an inaugural Professor in the
Department of Electrical Engineering
at the Nagaoka University of
Technology, Nagaoka, Japan. This
university was established in October
1976, which was characterized by
emphasizing graduate-student education
and industry-university collaborative
research. He established
and led a new power electronics
research lab, including hiring us as
a junior professor and his first Ph.
D. students, respectively in 1979 and
1984. This lab had become one of
the world's renowned power electronics
research group in the 1980s.
In 1986, Prof. Nabae was invited to
China to establish the Power Electronics
Society, serving as an adviser
and a keynote speaker at its very
first power electronics conference.
In 1990, he retired from the Nagaoka
University of Technology and moved
to the Tokyo Institute of Polytechnics,
Atsugi, Japan, as a Professor in
the Department of Electronic Engineering
until his retirement in 1997.
He was an open-minded professor,
awards and recognitions from the
IEEE and the Institute of Electrical
Engineers of Japan (IEEJ), including
the 1984 IEEJ Transactions First
Prize Paper Award, the 1990 IEEE
Fellow Grade, the 1991 IEEE Transactions
on Industry Applications
First Prize Paper Award, the 1993
IEEJ Outstanding Achievement
Award, the 1996 IEEE Power Electronics
Society William E. Newell
Award, and the 1999 IEEE Industry
Applications Society Outstanding
Achievement Award.
Prof. Nabae was our mentor and
role model, and he has left a great
mark on us and many others. While
he had many significant technical
accomplishments during his industrial
and academic career that spanned
many decades, his enduring legacy
will be in those people that he mentored,
collaborated with, and instilled
a research and entrepreneurial spirit
that will continue.
About the Authors
Hirofumi Akagi (akagi@ee.titech
.ac.jp) is a Distinguished Professor
at the Tokyo Institute of Technology,
Tokyo, Japan. He is the past president
of IEEE Power Electronics
Society (2007-2008) and an IEEE
Life Fellow.
Fang Z. Peng is the inaugural Distinguished
Professor of Engineering at
Florida State University, Tallahassee,
FL, USA. He is an IEEE Fellow.
94 IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE z June 2021
IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - June 2021

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