Naoshi Fukushima (1925–2003)

On 25 June 2003, the geomagnetism and solar‐terrestrial physics community lost a pioneer and a leader in the study of the current system in the near‐Earth environment. We all were saddened to learn of the passing of Naoshi Fukushima in Tokyo at the age of 78. The 1990 recipient of AGU's Waldo E. Smith Medal, Fukushima was a life member of AGU who joined in 1960.Fukushima was born on 19 January 1925. He was educated at the Imperial University of Tokyo, soon to become the University of Tokyo, where he received his bachelor's degree in geophysics in 1947. In 1953, he obtained a doctorate degree from the graduate school of the University of Tokyo. His doctoral thesis, titled “Polar Magnetic Storms and Geomagnetic Bays,” was highly influential for years to come. From 1951, he was an academic staff member, reaching the position of full professor in 1965 at the Geophysical Institute and Geophysics Research Laboratory (GRL) of the University of Tokyo. He had been the director of the GRL since 1973. During his tenure at the University of Tokyo, Fukushima was also a visiting fellow at a number of institutions around the world, including the University of Göttingen,the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the University of Oslo