Dr.OKA Kiyoshi

Younger days

 OKA Kiyoshi was born in Osaka city in 1901. In 1904 he moved to Kimi village (Hashimoto city at present), Wakayama prefecture and passed his younger days with his parents and grandparents. He graduated Kokawa junior-high school and Dai-san high school.
In 1925 he graduated Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Kyoto Imperial University and was appointed lecturer of the university. (He married with KOYAMA Michi in the same year.) In 1929 he was promoted to assosiate professor. From 1929 he had been to France for three years. At that time he chose the theory of analytic functions of several variables as the theme of his research. He transferred to Hiroshima University in 1932.
At the end of the year 1934, he read a book written by H.Behnke and P.Thullen. In the book they precisely described the progress of the field. He understood the importance of three unsolved problems mentioned there, and began to study about them from January 2, 1935. At the end of the summer, he discovered the first key, "Lifting Principle". This result was published in 1936 as the 1st paper of a series titled "Sur les fonctions analytiques de plusieurs variables (about analytic functions of several variables)". The 2nd, the 3rd, the 4th and the 5th paper of the series were published successively until 1941. The second original problem was still remained, and he solved it in the case of univalent in two dimensions in the 6th paper.
In 1938 he stayed away from Hiroshima and went back to Kimi village because of a disease. He was granted the doctor's degree of Science in 1940.

Behnke & Thullen, the page
"ungelösten Hauptprobleme"
was written
¡Êsize 110K¡Ë

with H.Cartan; in Nara City

 In 1951 in the 8th paper he succeeded in extending Lifting Principle to the ramified domain by using of the result of the 7th paper. He had started this work from 1942, during his stay as a research assistant in Hokkaido University. He yielded the key of the work, the theory of ideal with indeterminate domain, during World War II when he lived with lack of everything in Kimi village. The 7th paper was accepted in 1948 and appeared in Bulletin de la Societe Mathematique de France in 1950 through H.Cartan's mediation.
The 9th paper, published in 1953, was the final shape of his work in the case of the unramified domain. Thus he finally solved all of the original problems which he tried.

Lecture in Nara Women's University

 He went back to his hometown in 1942 and from then he devoted to think about the problems. In 1949 he was appointed as a professor of Nara Women's University. He was also eager for educating the students.
In 1951 he moved to Nara City. He was awarded The Japan Academy Prize in the same year and Asahi Culture Prize in 1953. About that time he started to give lectures and attend seminars in Kyoto University to encourage young researchers.
He was conferred The Cultural Medal in 1960. The next year he received the title of honorary citizen of Hashimoto city.
The 10th paper, related to his early studies in France, was published in 1962. This is his last paper.
He retired Nara Women's University in 1964 and was granted Professor Emeritus of the university. He continued to attend seminars until 1971. He received the title of honorary citizen of Nara City in 1968. In 1969 he was appointed professor of Kyoto Sangyo University.

He was afraid of the present and the future of Japan in his later days, and he gave lots of remarks about cultures and educations through his books and speechs. He was died on March 1,1978.

The granting ceremony of The Cultural Medal