Shoichi Sakata (14.01.1911-16.10.1970) — Japanese theoretical physicist. Born in Tokyo. Graduated from Kyoto University (1933), and from 1942 was a professor at Nagoya University.
His work concerned nuclear theory, meson physics, cosmic-ray physics, the theory of elementary particles and the philosophy of physics. Together with H. Yukawa he predicted in 1936 the capture of an orbital electron by a nucleus (K-capture); in 1938 he constructed a scalar theory of nuclear forces and introduced a neutral meson to explain the charge independence of nuclear forces. In 1943 he put forward (independently of Y. Tanikawa) the hypothesis of two types of mesons, which received direct confirmation (1947) from C. Powell, who discovered the pi-mesons. In 1956 he proposed a scheme for classifying mesons and baryons in which he took the proton, the neutron and the lambda-zero hyperon as the fundamental particles (the Sakata scheme).