佐川真人氏に英女王工学賞　ネオジム磁石開発に貢献

　【ロンドン時事】工学分野で優れた業績を挙げた個人や団体に贈られる英国の「エリザベス女王工学賞」の受賞者が１日発表され、最高性能の永久磁石を開発したとして、大同特殊鋼の佐川真人顧問（７８）が選ばれた。クリーンな省エネ技術の実現に貢献したことが受賞理由。
　佐川氏は声明で「気候変動との闘いの一端をエンジニアが担うことを誇りに思う。この受賞は栄誉だ」と述べた。
　佐川氏は富士通の研究員だった１９８２年、鉄やネオジムといった安価で豊富にある材料を組み合わせて最高性能を持つ永久磁石「ネオジム磁石」の開発に成功。この磁石は産業界に不可欠となり、携帯電話や電気自動車、風力タービン、ロボットなどに使用されている。（2022/02/02-06:01）

The 2022 Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering will be awarded to Japanese scientist Masato Sagawa for his development of the world's most powerful permanent magnet, the organizer of the prize said Tuesday.
   The development of the sintered neodymium-iron-boron magnet was transformational in its contribution toward enabling cleaner, energy-saving technologies, the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering Foundation said.
   "I am...honored to be part of the engineering profession's contribution toward the fight against climate change, and equally as honored to receive this unique prize," said Sagawa, the 78-year-old adviser to Japan's Daido Steel Co. , in a statement. He will receive 500,000 pounds.
   In 1982 when he was a researcher at Japan's Fujitsu Ltd. , Sagawa developed the permanent magnet using iron and neodymium instead of more scarce and expensive cobalt and samarium.
   The magnet has become a crucial industrial material with wide applications such as mobile phones, electric vehicles, wind turbines and robots.