Michio Kaku

Michio Kaku

        Michio Kaku was born on January 24, 1947 in San Jose, California. As a small Japanese boy living in the U.S. during the time of the Vietnam War, he found a love for science. While in high school, according to Famous Scientist “Michio Kaku constructed his own particle accelerator inside his parent's garage in hopes of creating gamma-ray beams with high enough energy to create antimatter”(Zewail). Given permission to travel to Albuquerque to participate in the National Science fair, he presented his particle accelerator to Edward Teller, the creator of the hydrogen bomb and won the Hertz Engineering Scholarship.

        Leaving high school with the Hertz Engineering Scholarship under his belt, Michio Kaku went to Harvard University where he studied physics. After graduating from Harvard University in 1968, he pursued his Ph.D in physics at the University of California at Berkeley, where he conducted research at Berkeley Radiation Laboratory. Upon graduation in 1972, he was given a lectureship at Princeton University. He later accepted a position at the City University of New York to teach physics. He would go on to focus his attention on supergravity, supersymmetry, and hadronic physics. During his academic career, Kaku developed an interest in the “theory of everything”, which was first introduced by Einstein. This idea soon led to his fascination with predicting what will come of the future. He is famous for the discovery of the String Theory, which is the idea to bring all four forces of the universe being electromagnetic, strong nuclear force, weak nuclear force, and gravity into one theory.

        Over his career, Michio Kaku has written many bibliographies about physics related topics. He has documented most of his thoughts and studies in journals that he has made accessible to all people. Many books and academic journals written by Michio Kaku are about the future of humanity and have been a New York Times bestseller. Kaku’s curiosity with Albert Einstein’s “theory of everything” has inspired him to write more on the topic. According to the Michio Kaku website, “Michio Kaku’s current bibliography includes Hyperspace (1994), Visions (1998), Einstein's Cosmos (2005), Parallel Worlds (2006), Physics of the Impossible (2008), and Physics of the Future (2011). In 2014, he published, “The Future of the Mind, which explores the latest advances in physics and neuroscience” (Kaku). In addition to his written publications, Michio Kaku  shares his work via many media outlets such as podcasts, blogs, and television. He discusses a wide variety of topics and how they affect our future. He presents the material in a way that is understandable to the general public.

        MichioKaku is a hero because his engaging and passionate nature has helped inspire the world to develop an interest in science. By sharing his expertise in his books, starring in tv shows, hosting podcasts, and writing blogs Kaku has simplified complex material and presented in a way that it is easily understood.  He has invited the general public to become involved and to ask questions about our future and what lies ahead. While best known for his String Theory, he has made many contributions to the scientific community. MichioKaku is a hero because as a result of his passion and dedication to science he has forever left his mark on mankind.