EPILOGUE-SCIENCE, SCIENCE!Junichi NishidaNew Market Development Group, R&D Department of the Technical Develop-ment Center. He’s applying Rion’s tech-nologies to pioneer research and develop ment in elds new to Rion.η=1+[Pas]2Zsinθ27πR9Y(θ)28tanθ9Y(θ)7tanθρ=Y(θ)[kg/m³]27Zcosθ28πR³ωzzr²zrtan-¹zi²zi=θ=+√A Love of Mathematical Formulas Paves the Way to a Signicant AchievementI’ve loved math and science since grade school. My mother, who didn’t herself do so well in math, started me on this path. Because she didn’t want me to suffer the way she did, she made a home-made workbook with problems for me to solve. Since those days, I’ve found solving equations absolutely fascinating. I enrolled in the engineering department in college, where I did research on ways to measure blood sugar without using needles. You can induce a very small sound inside the body by irradiating it intermittently with light with frequencies easily absorbed by blood. Then you can amplify this sound at the surface of the skin to measure the condition of the blood. My strong interest in physics eventually led me to join Rion.* *Currently, I’m a member of the New Market Development Group. This group was formed three years ago within the Technical Development Center. Before that, I worked on research and development for Rion products associated with sound and vibration. It was very interesting for me as a math and science lover to develop rm-ware for quantifying sound and vibration in specic ways, like creating algorithms for seismometers and for aircraft noise obser-vation systems.Of all these, the most exciting research target was “viscosity.” More precisely, this involved technological developments for measuring the mechanical impedance of a substance. In practice, the technology being developed would be applied to con-trol the state of viscous materials like natto (fermented beans) and egg whites, and to measure mousse-like textures, such as whipped cream on the tongue or shaving cream on the face. Previously, someone had to carry out visual inspections ev-ery hour to check the foam stability of whipped cream after it had been prepared. If a device could do this automatically and in real-time, I thought, it would save a lot of work.I became interested in viscosity through a proposal I received from a re-searcher in the food industry. The more I thought about it, the more I found vis-cosity a strange and interesting topic. If gasoline had zero viscosity, it would be ex-tremely difcult to pump fuel into our cars. If toothpaste was less viscous, taking an appropriate amount out of the tube would be somewhat difficult. Everything has an optimal viscosity. Many products would be useless if they hadn't been designed to have the correct viscosity. Ultimately, I realized viscosity is an essential aspect of our world. That motivated me to immerse myself in viscosity research.* *In technological development for measuring the mechanical impedance of a substance, we can express the resistance to displacement of a substance when a force is applied using mathematical for-mulas. I obtained a patent for a formula that expresses how we can simultaneously calculate viscosity, density, and kinematic viscosity from actual measurements of mechanical impedance. The process of theoretically proving the results of an experiment using mathematical formulas is sheer joy for those who love math and equations. It reminds me of the beauty I felt in the way simultaneous equations were neatly organized when I rst learned of them in junior high school.It takes a lot of time and effort to or-ganize a mathematical formula into a neat form. It feels like decluttering your house or desk. First, there’s a confusing mass of characters and coefficients. But once they’re grouped and organized, the goal is just a step away. You feel a sense of satis-faction in completing the task, like clearing a stage in Tetris or Puyo Puyo. [laughs]* *When I think about mathematical for-mulas, I become so engrossed I can forget to sleep. That’s why I used to avoid think-ing about them at night. It amazes me to go over the memos I wrote during my trial-and-error phase. In Einstein’s theory of relativity, there’s an equation that demon-strates that the mass of stationary matter isn’t the same as the mass of the same matter in motion. “What? How could that be?” That’s the kind of thing mathematics can prove. Mathematics is fascinating.Being able to solve these equations is an asset even in my normal line of work. Currently, I’m in charge of developing new markets. When I undertake surveys of our customers, I find different people have different opinions. You can’t take all opin-ions equally seriously or you’ll miss the big picture. You have to organize them to see the essence of the demands being made in order to propose an effective response. The process is a lot like how you go about solving an equation. I hope to be able to continue applying my math skills to create technologies that benet the world.003Persist and PrevailA formula for simultaneously calculating viscosity and density from the mechanical impedance of a substanceThis formula proposed by Nishida has been patented. In the coming years, it may pave the way to the develop-ment of new, innovative products.Rion is supported by many science-loving and math-loving staff members.In this series, our science-minded staff members write about their enthusiasm for their respective fields of interest. Part 3 will discuss mathematical formulas.Because We’re Science and Math LoversColumn by Rion’s staff on their obsession with science20Interview and article by Kana Yokota
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